Schools can usually produce a pretty long list of student leadership positions: student government officers, club presidents, team captains, newspaper editors, theatre leaders, peer mentors, DECA officers, class officers, committee representatives.
But what would happen if someone put all those opportunities in one place and looked at what students actually get to do? I'd be curious to see the result.
Start by finding where students have responsibility
Some places would be obvious, including student government, athletics, clubs, performing arts, and publications. Others might be easier to overlook: a student serving on a school committee, someone coordinating volunteers for a service project, an upperclassman training younger performers, a student leading one part of a major school event, or a peer mentor.
I wouldn't start by deciding which of these counts as “real leadership.” I'd start by finding the places where students are actually trusted with something.
What are students getting to practice?
Then a school could look across those opportunities and ask where students run meetings, lead projects, coordinate other students, manage money or resources, represent other students, set goals and priorities, work through problems and disagreements, and develop younger students.
I suspect the pattern would look different at every school. Maybe students have lots of opportunities to plan events but very few to manage money. Maybe student government gives students a real voice in school decisions, while other organizations don't have much opportunity for representation. Maybe students get substantial responsibility in theatre, athletics, or publications that isn't obvious when people talk about “student leadership.”
Who gets those opportunities?
I'd also want to know which students are getting these experiences. Not every student needs to be a student leader, and not every student leader needs to do everything. But are there ways for a student to start with a smaller responsibility and grow into something larger? Or do most of the substantial opportunities begin with being elected or selected for one of a small number of positions?
Our report made us interested in creating more ways for students to lead a project, chair a committee, mentor another student, or take responsibility for one piece of work before taking on a larger role. Looking across a school might show where that already happens and where there are fewer opportunities.
Schools already think carefully about what students get opportunities to learn in class. Student leadership is obviously different, but I wonder if we could be a little more intentional about what students get opportunities to learn there too. A list of leadership titles tells us one thing. I'd be interested to see what a map of the activities behind them would show.
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.