How to Maximise Leadership Opportunities in High School

Leadership opportunities are some of the most valuable aspects of high school - they provide a great chance to build life skills, develop your CV, and make an impact.

In this blog, I draw on my own experiences and conversations with others to explore ways you can exercise leadership in high school, even in the earlier years! I also discuss some general tips for finding and making the most of leadership experiences.

Conventional Opportunities

One way to gain leadership experience is by taking advantage of conventional opportunities, for example by joining student leadership/government or taking on a leadership role in a club.  These sorts of opportunities are great if you want a more structured format for leading, or if you want to work as part of an existing team.

Look out for applications for these positions, which typically take place at the beginning or end of each school year. Some ways you can strengthen your application include: starting early so you have plenty of time; obtaining a recommendation letter from a teacher who knows you well; detailing previous experiences and relevant skills you learned from them; having a vision for what you hope to achieve.

However, if you’re interested in one of these positions outside the application period, try contacting the student or teacher who organises the program - there may still be positions available. Or, if you know a student has recently left, offer to step up and take their old position.

Wider Opportunities

If you missed out on an established position or if you’re too young to apply, don’t worry! There are still plenty of ways you can show leadership by becoming involved in your school, local community, extracurriculars, or even at home.

This could look like actively participating in activities, leading class discussions, or volunteering to do jobs for teachers/organisers. Your involvement will not go unnoticed, and these experiences still allow you to have a positive impact!

Additionally, they exercise your leadership muscle, helping develop useful skills and qualities such as organisation, confidence, and reliability, so you’re more prepared for future leadership.

Introducing New School Initiatives

Another way to show leadership is by introducing a new initiative, such as a club, social action, business, or event; in my case, I started a careers fair at CGA. Starting an initiative is possible whether or not you’re in an existing leadership position, since you’re carving your own path! A good starting point is identifying a passion, issue, or activity which you’d like to engage with.

One way you could do this is introducing established frameworks where they don’t currently exist. For example, you could create a Maths Olympiad team or start a branch of KiwiBots, or organise a tutoring network. To kick things off, you can look at current groups and resources, then think about ways to implement them in your community. This is a particularly good option if there’s an activity you’ve always wanted to do, but haven’t been able to find in your community.

Another way is by finding a way to share a passion or idea. This can become an initiative as you work to spread the word and involve others. This could look like starting a podcast, creating a new club/discussion group, campaigning, or organising an activity around your passion.

Two tips for starting your own initiative:

• It’s a good idea to work out your purpose and goals, making sure they’re specific enough that you can take action. 
• Focus on delivering your minimum viable product - the simplest version of your idea which achieves your underlying goal. This will encourage you to make a start, instead of getting caught up trying to perfect every detail. Once you’ve started, it’s easier to develop details and grow it, especially since you’ll have a better understanding of challenges or areas for improvement.

Broader tips for leadership in high school

• Find ways to add value - think about the benefit you can create for others, an interest, and/or a cause
• Say yes to things - they could turn into unexpected leadership opportunities
• Practice leadership skills whenever possible; for example, you could practise demonstrating confidence by offering to present a project. This helps you become comfortable leading, and may even lead to further leadership opportunities!
• Take the first step - if you see an opportunity or have an idea, take action. This develops your risk-taking and initiative skills, both important for leadership. If things don’t work out, take it as a lesson in resilience - there will be other ways or other opportunities.

There are many ways to show leadership throughout high school, so make the most of them!