Solving the Escape Room Together: Redefining Student Leadership by Zeinab

Solving the Escape Room Together: Redefining Student Leadership by Zeinab - December 2025 Scholarship Essay

If I were running for student body president, the single most important way I would aim to positively impact my school would be this: turning education from a maze students survive into an escape room they learn how to solve together.

The game of life begins without our consent. We are born into circumstances we did not choose—our country, our language, our family’s financial reality, even the expectations placed upon us before we understand what expectations are. School often mirrors this experience. Students arrive carrying invisible constraints: anxiety, financial stress, cultural barriers, self-doubt, or simply the fear of not belonging. Too often, institutions assume that if students are admitted, they will automatically thrive. But just like an escape room, being inside the room does not mean you know how to get out.

As student body president, my priority would be to teach students how to play the game, not just how to endure it.

In an escape room, the difference between panic and progress is clarity. You must understand the rules, trust your team, use your time wisely, and recognize that every small clue matters. I believe schools should operate the same way. Many students struggle not because they lack ability, but because no one ever explains the system to them—how to navigate resources, advocate for themselves, manage setbacks, or turn failure into information rather than shame.

My leadership would focus on access, transparency, and empowerment.

First, I would work on centralizing information and humanizing it. Universities have numerous resources, such as academic, mental health, and financial aid resources, but they are not always publicized and are intimidating for students to pursue. I would create simple to follow student guides and peer navigators so that no one is accidentally lost just because they didn't know where to look. In an escape room, the clues are useless if no one knows they exist.

Second, I would prioritize community over competition. Escape rooms are not solved alone. Success depends on collaboration, listening, and recognizing different strengths. As president, I would promote cross-cultural and interdisciplinary spaces where students can learn from one another—not just socially, but academically and professionally. When students feel seen and valued, they take intellectual risks. They ask questions. They grow.

Third, I would normalize struggle as part of progress. The clock in an escape room is always running, and mistakes will happen. The sooner you get it right, the better: constant programming around reframing failure into feedback: panels, workshops, and community forums where students talk about their failures and what they did next. If leaders model honesty, students stop pretending they are fine and start becoming resilient.

My own life has taught me that resilience is not about toughness—it’s about strategy. I moved across borders to pursue education, navigated unfamiliar systems, and faced moments when the room felt impossible to escape. What made the difference was not luck, but guidance, community, and learning how to break big problems into solvable steps. Those are skills every student deserves to learn.

Student government should not exist to plan events alone; it should exist to lower the difficulty level of the game without removing the challenge. My vision is a campus where students understand the rules, trust the process, support one another, and leave not just with a degree, but with the confidence that they know how to solve complex problems—inside school and beyond it.

The clock is ticking for all of us. Education should teach students how to use their time wisely, move intentionally, and exit the escape room of college not exhausted and confused, but prepared and empowered.

That is the impact I would strive to make as student body president.