Sometimes, being in a position of leadership can be a scary thought. With leadership comes a lot of responsibility and hard work. Despite sounding scary, seeking and maintaining a leadership position on your college campus can be one of the greatest things you can do to grow personally, professionally and academically.  I have had the opportunity to engage in various leadership opportunities-from working as an orientation leader to serving as my class secretary – I have managed to learn a lot. It may not always be easy but the hard work pays off, and here are ten reasons why:

  1. You Give Back! In my experience as a class officer I have had the opportunity to plan events with the intent to raise money or awareness for an organization that I support. At one event last year our class was able to raise three hundred dollars for a small local organization.
  2. Being a voice on campus: When holding a position of leadership you are given the resources and skills to spread information on campus. Being able to efficiently express your ideas with a large audience is a great tool to have when planning events or promoting campus initiatives
  3. Overcoming challenges: As an orientation leader, I was worried I would not be able to connect to the new students. I wanted to try to be approachable as possible, all while still maintaining a level of respect. Through orientation leader training, I was able to learn tips and skills to help work with those new students. Being a leader can also help an individual overcome challenges such as public speaking skills and interpersonal communication.
  4. Planning Events: Planning a campus event is no easy task; it takes early planning, budgeting, organization, marketing, and successful implementation. Being able to sort out the logistics of an event is a major skill  to have regardless of what you decide to pursue professionally.
  5. Working with a team: I have never worked alone with any of my leadership positions on campus. For my class office, I work alongside other officers, insuring a strong support system when planning and serving our class.
  6. Cool Apparel: On the materialistic side of things I have gotten a lot of cool t-shirts and free apparel from being a student leader, a nice perk on top of the many others!
  7. Meeting new people: Often times I have to work with people whom I would not have interacted with had it not been through an opportunity made possible by being a class officer, working at admissions, or being an orientation leader.
  8. Gaining new skills: From being an active listener, learning new computer software, to blowing up balloons. The amount of skills you can learn from being a student leader is boundless.
  9. Building a community: Not only do you create bonds with your other co-leaders, you are also able to connect with students on campus and bring them together. Making these connections is both rewarding and fun.
  10. Enjoying the events! As a result of all your hard work you get to see the events you helped plan from the very beginning come together. The most recent event we hosted was the Senior/ Junior Class Picnic. Food, games, prizes- the whole event was a great success with more than 150 people attending. Serving as a class leader has been one the most rewarding experiences I have had on the Nazareth campus.