Looking Back at My Junior Year (Spring)

f(Coming off an amazing fall semester and winter break I was ready to start a great spring semester. My spring semester got off to a hot start literally as the bar I was planning to go to for my 21st birthday celebration burned down 3 hours before my 21st. Yet my 21st was amazing as I got to spend time with my friends and family and see how many true friends I had. Then as February started I found out that in one of my classes I would be presenting a marketing plan to the Ravens, my favorite sports organization, a dream come true. Also, during that time I further cemented my place as the true leader of Hillel partially by treating everyone with respect and just showing up to events.
March was as they say complete madness. It became clear that my fraternity was not going to get any pledges which sucked. On the positive side I showed that I wa becoming a better public speaker, something I was struggling with. Then spring break came a long and it was weird not having a trip because every other break I had since sophomre of High school I have had a trip but it was good to relax and spend time with family. Also during spring break I found out I was going to have two jobs over the summer (JCC and Baltimore County Rec and Parks). During March I showed off my Improv skills and sometimes despite my inappropriate nature at times I was funny.
April was one of the most trying months I have had in recent years. Yet despite this there was a few highs most notably me and my brothers doing our first ever Greek Sing to songs by Beyonce and NSYNC (it made me so proud to be in AEPI). Also I nominated my friends for some student leadership awards. However April 2011 will be largely remembered for Hillel elections. In the beginning of the month I found out it wasn't just me and the current president running it was a member of the jewish sorority who had no executive board experience same went for my opponent at VP. As soon as I heard this I knew it was over because their sisters were heavily involved and controlled the vote. While I gave everything I had to this election I knew I lost. Ironically, It became official I lost hours after Greek Sing. This was incredibly difficult to swallow because I knew i lost both not because people saw the winners as the best candidate but because they were in the aforementioned sorority. This was proven to me by the fact that whenever two sorority sisters ran against each other they lost. In fact I still believe I was clearly the best candidate.
This did teach me a lot about myself. First of all I saw how much I grew because a year earlier when I lost I was furious and crying and while I was still angry I handled myself with dignity. Furthermore, I saw how many people I had impacted and connected to in a meaningful way after seeing how many people checked in on me and wanted me to stay involved. This is in comparison to the current president who just cried and people could careless about as he did not treat people with the same level of respect as I did. He later became president of AEPI which concerns me. I learned how true it is that adversity doesn't build character it reveals it. The month ended on a high as I was named Hillel Treasurer, becoming the first ever three time executive board member in the organization's history.
In May everything turned around for me beginning with my presentation for the Ravens which was absolutly amazing and went better then I expected. Also, I finished off the semester only missing two Hillel events despite being called untrustworthy and self-centered by the former Hillel President. I even won the Hillel Mensch award for this year and gave a show stealing tribute to my friend, roommate, and graduating senior. I also kept up my academic performance high. While I am saying good by to my many friends who are graduating I know they respect me and I hope they know how much I respect and admire them. All In All, this semester was fun despite my trials and tribulations I have experienced.