Teamwork is the ability to work with a variety of people towards a common goal or ambition. This requires using diverse skills, clearly communicating, and collaborating effectively. I have used these skills in a variety of ways to achieve set objectives, sometimes as a group contributor, and sometimes as the lead, directing the combined effort of the entire team. Some previous team settings have included my factory shift crew, the Unity Christian Varsity Soccer team, and the Guatemala Mission Trip Team from 2015. Each of these groups contributed to my understanding of teamwork in a different way by allowing me to assume a different role. In some of those teams I served as a leader (soccer captain or shift supervisor) while in others I was a contributor. In all of them I learned that each member has a specific role that is unique to that individual and their specific skill set. 

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An example of teamwork recently applied is a group project I was a part of at the Bush School in the Spring of 2016. Our assignment was to assess possibilities and implications of foreign investment in certain sectors of America. Our team had to first come up with a concrete attainable direction for our research. Then we had to creatively assess possibilities of foreign investment. This was followed by allocating the work between specific topics and according to individual skill sets. We quickly came to an agreement on our direction and options for our research. Over the next two weeks we collaborated our research into a comprehensive research paper. When it came time to present our findings we once again based our presentation on strengths. It was my responsibility to bring the entire project together and orally present the overarching conclusion and implications. I then fielded questions from the audience. Throughout the entire process, I facilitated coordinated communication; it was my responsibility to ensure the direction of the project was being pursued, and that the paper flowed in a logical and comprehensive way. I facilitated effective teamwork which produced a project that we were all proud of and that received a great grade.