Empowering Young Leaders: The Many Opportunities for Elementary School Students

Damien Prest Elementary School Principal

Leadership in the Elementary School takes many forms. Along with opportunities for teachers to practice their leadership skills as grade-level leaders and committee chairs, students also have opportunities to pursue their curiosity about what it means to be a leader. Overall, there are 31 leadership positions students in grades 4 and 5 can pursue!

At the start of each school year, upper Elementary students can apply to be a member of the Student Ambassadors, Class Representatives, House Leaders or Service Leaders. Once elected/ appointed, the expectation for students sitting on these four teams is to grow their leadership skills as they work together to positively impact the school community. Each team of student leaders are supported by assigned staff members.

The importance of providing students with leadership opportunities is twofold. First, it’s vital for students to exercise their voices to help shape the direction of their school! Second, student leaders gain invaluable experience developing a multitude of skills throughout the school year, such as:

• Practicing leadership skills like communication, teamwork, decision-making, problem-solving and goal-setting

• Building confidence and self-esteem by taking advantage of opportunities to lead and then feeling a sense of accomplishment.

• Fostering responsibility because being a leader requires a certain level of personal accountability

• Creating a sense of community because of the teamwork necessary to achieve a common goal

• Improving communication skills by practicing different the many ways student leaders share information with peers, teachers and other stakeholders

• Developing critical thinking skills by analyzing and evaluating problems and solutions as well as making decisions that impact many

What leadership roles are available for students? Students have four different opportunities to choose from when considering leadership opportunities. There’s the Student Ambassador Cabinet, which has four positions: President, Vice President, Secretary, Historian. Grade 5 students apply and are interviewed. They then create and record a speech for their grade 5 peers to view just before they cast their votes.

Another opportunity to be part of the Student Ambassador team is to be a Class Representative. One student is chosen by their classroom peers to represent each of the eight grade 4 and 5 homeroom classes. Their main role is to support the Student Ambassador Cabinet with communicating ideas, gathering information and helping to implement initiatives.

House Leaders are the remaining ways students can practice their leadership skills. With each student in a House (see image) at SFS, the Elementary School seeks 16 students to work with that year’s House Leader teachers to build up school spirit through activities that promote teamwork, fun and school spirit. Examples include the House Disco dance event and Spirit Week in which students wear different themed outfits or House colors.

Service Leaders are the smallest (a team of three!) yet mightiest of the student leadership groups because they are the official student representatives of the school’s service committee with the purpose working with organizations that all of SFS has partnered with to help in our community.

As educators supporting the growth and development of children, we continuously focus on ensuring that opportunities for students to have an influence and make a difference in the safe setting of the Elementary school will hopefully empower them to become involved as leaders in their other communities now and in the future!