Lost Election Adrianne Lynn Owings

"So, vote O-WINGS, and let's soar!"

A unanimous groan can be heard throughout the class as I flash a quick thumbs, mostly up to try to level out the resentment I just acquired through a tacky pun of a campaign slogan. Nonetheless, I leave the podium with a big, hopeful grin, but the subsequent election reveals that this effort was made in vain. No surprise there. I take my newest defeat with pride and greet our new student leader with a good-natured embrace.

I have had a history of being labeled a "try-hard," a label that no high-schooler really wants. But this never stopped me from doing what mattered most to me, even when my campaigns for leadership in my academic life have been crushed time and time again. Even when I was elected co-President of Mosaic club, which promotes understanding among all races, cultures, and people, I was ridiculed for my stance as a feminist and my status as a well-to-do white girl leading a diversity-centered extracurricular. Nevertheless, I carried on with trademark cheer, organizing events that made a positive change and tenaciously holding fast to an idea best conveyed by Mary Pickford: "This thing we call failure is not the falling down, but the staying down."

Without countless losses, I...