Imagine writing every officer position in a student organization down one side of a piece of paper: president, vice president, secretary, treasurer, committee chairs, representatives. Then, instead of writing their job descriptions, ask a different question: What does each student actually get to do?
I'd be curious what an advisor and student leadership team would discover.
Who actually does what?
Who creates and runs the meeting agenda? Who chooses projects and develops the plan? Who divides up the work and follows up? Who helps develop the budget, communicates with members, gathers students' opinions, talks with school leaders, or helps younger students learn how the organization works?
The answers might match the official job descriptions, but they might not.
What if the president does almost everything?
Imagine that the president runs every meeting, talks with the advisor, assigns the work, oversees every project, and handles problems. The other officers are busy too, but maybe they're mostly carrying out parts of plans someone else has made. What are those students getting the chance to learn how to do?
Maybe a vice president could lead one project from beginning to end. A treasurer could help develop the budget instead of only recording expenses. A committee chair could actually run the committee's meetings, or a younger officer could own one part of an event.
The roles don't need to be equal, and they probably shouldn't be. I do wonder whether looking at the activities behind the titles would show places where responsibility could be shared differently.
Something might be missing entirely
Maybe nobody develops a budget because the advisor has always done it. Maybe students run events but never stop afterward to talk about what worked. Maybe officers represent students to administrators but rarely ask those students what they think. Maybe graduating leaders leave without helping the next group get started.
Different organizations need different things, so I wouldn't expect every activity to appear everywhere. Looking at the organization this way could still make it easier to notice what's missing.
A simple chart might be enough: roles down one side, leadership activities across the top, with marks showing where students have real responsibility. For each position, I'd want to know what the student holding that role will actually get to practice.
This article is part of a series exploring what students actually get to practice through leadership—and how schools and advisors can create stronger leadership experiences. The series grew out of our 2026 research with 271 student leaders and 37 advisors.