Leadership Activities for Students

Students must face real life challenges one day when they venture out of their protected life. Therefore, it is essential that they are prepared for it in student life. They are our future leaders in various fields of human endeavor. Leadership activities for students are ways of creating simulated conditions, similar to real world, where students are given a chance to develop their leadership skills. Leadership activities should be designed to develop each and every quality, that makes a good leader. Leadership activities for students need to be wide ranging and equally challenging, to bring out that one thing which is most important of all the leadership qualities, which is 'Character'.

Ideas on Leadership Activities for Students
If we are trying to simulate conditions of the real world outside, through activities, they need to be well designed. Essentially, most problems that students will face when they venture out are going to be people problems. Being a leader is all about understanding the people around you and bringing out the best in your team. So, the leadership activities for students mentioned here are focused on developing communication skills, team building skills, time management skills and finally skills of planning and executing strategy. In this article, I will talk about a few leadership activities for students in middle school, high school and college. They are designed to get students out of their shells and develop an all round personality. Read and try out some of the activities in your own class, if you like them. Read more on leadership development.

Leadership Activities for Middle School Students
Here are some leadership activities for students in middle school, focused on molding their personalities and letting them have a lot of fun in the process.

Leadership Activity # 1: Essay Contest
Firstly, have a discussion about what leadership means in class and ask students to research on American or World Leaders. Hold an essay contest about 'My Favorite Leader' or 'My Role Model'. Make it compulsory that they must justify their choice for role model. Let the best essay be read in the class.

Leadership Activity # 2: Extempore Speech
Hold an extempore speech contest, where in, various topics that deal with contemporary issues are asked to be talked about. Let children be given sufficient time to prepare themselves. After every extempore speech, let there be a question and answer session about the topic, where the student who's speaking justifies his take on the issue. Grade students for how well they articulate their thoughts and how well are they able to answer questions hurled at them.

Leadership Activity # 3: Projects
Hold a project exhibition contest on a given theme of your choice. The projects should be research based and presented in form of charts. Create groups of three or two students and ask them to present one topic related to the theme.

For more on this read 'Leadership Activities For Kids'.

Leadership Activities for High School Students
Here I have some leadership activities for high school students, which are a bit more advanced than those for middle school students.

Leadership Activity # 1: Debate
Hold a debate contest in the class. Divide the whole class in teams of four, out of which, two argue for, and two argue against an idea. Give them adequate time for research and preparation. Let the topics be contentious issues of national importance, which will force them to read, research and think.

Leadership Activity # 2: Enterprise
Create small groups in class and ask them to come up with ideas to sell a product of their own. In short, ask each team to come up with a business plan. Ask them to make a presentation of their complete business plan in class. Grade them on the basis of originality and planning. Then let them actually run the business for some days, in school itself. After an adequate time of enterprise, let them share their experiences about the business in class.

Leadership Activity # 3: Drama Activity
Make groups of students in class and give every group a situation to enact in the form of a play, through improvisation. Let the topics be such that they give sufficient room for imagination. Let them enact the plays in class without using props. Have a discussion about the experiences of the plays later.

For more on this read, 'Leadership Activities for High School Students'.

Leadership Activities for College Students
Students in college are at the apex of their educational journey. The activities for them, need to be more reflective of real world and challenging enough. Here are some ideas.

Leadership Activity # 1: Fund Raiser/Awareness Campaign
Ask the students to organize a fund raising campaign for a worthy cause and create awareness regarding the same in their college and town. Ask the students to create posters and slogans related to the same. They could even enact street plays for creating awareness about issues.

Leadership Activity # 2: Run a Campus Newspaper/Periodical
Select students to run a campus paper. Choose editors and reporters for the same, through a contest. Let the periodical cover all the happening s in and around the college. Provide them with the requisite publishing and research facilities.

Leadership Activity # 3: Organize a Cultural/Sports Event
Give the students an opportunity to organize and manage a whole cultural or sports event on their own. Let them plan and execute the whole thing for themselves. This way they will get a real taste of managing events and managing people!

For more on this read, 'Leadership Activities for Youth'.

Hope that some ideas mentioned here, about leadership activities, are found useful by instructors looking for them. Creating and conducting these leadership activities, as well as evaluating students, is a great leadership activity for the instructor too! Teachers need to take up the roles of facilitators who learn along with the students through these activities. With every experience that you have from these leadership activities for students, you can improve them for the future batches that come under your instruction.