Eight grader Asher Maier learned a very valuable lesson about leadership at 10 years old during his fifth-grade student body president campaign, unfortunately, because he lost.

For Maier’s whole life, he didn’t mind always running for grade president, and fifth grade was no different. Although there were four other people running, he was confident. He was prepared to win this title and he had no doubt about losing.

“I am ready to win,” Maier said. “My whole life the compliments about how smart I was created a tornado of arrogance.”

Maier was told that he was smart and had everything, which is why he was arrogant. Maier stayed confident hearing that people were willing to vote for him after his speech, and he was satisfied. Then his competition gave their speech, and he wasn’t phased. Classmate was not available for comment at the time of publication.

“Her speech was impressive, but my arrogance made me stay confident,” Maier said. But when he heard that students would vote for her instead because she would improve the school, he couldn’t believe it. The teacher told the class to put their heads down for voting, and he finally got his result. “Our teacher told me I had lost,” Maier said. “I tried to hold back my tears.”

Luckily, Maier’s mom picked him up to go camping at Leavenworth a few minutes later with family for their annual trip. But the whole drive, he thought he was a failure. Maier couldn’t stop thinking that he tried his hardest, but it wasn’t good enough. “My towering expectations grown by my teachers, friends, and myself began crumbling down like a mudslide,” Maier said.

Maier finally arrived at Leavenworth. Still baffled about his loss, he decided to analyze and look back at his speech. Then did he realize what went wrong.

“Everything was about me… not my friends… not about helping the school… all about why I was qualified,” Maier said.

Looking back at his competition's speech, Maier realized that she deserved the position more than him because she cared about the school and students.

“Anybody can be qualified, but only true leaders know that’s not why you should lead,” Maier said. “It’s to help improve the lives of your friends."

Now knowing why he lost, Maier started to accept everything that had happened. Even though he lost, Maier understood why he didn’t win, and that was all that was important.

“This time, it would be for helping others, not for helping my self-worth,” Maier said.

written by Gwen Teodoro