The past few blog posts in this student leadership series have explained what leadership is and provided some insights into the research behind it so far, but what does leadership look like through the eyes of a student leader? A 2024 graduate from a mid-sized private university in the Southeast United States shared his experience with leadership and how it transformed his college experience. To protect his privacy, his identity will remain anonymous. 

Background 

Prior to beginning his college career, the student attended a small private high school in Maryland, where he participated in a few small leadership opportunities. Upon being accepted into college, he applied for a leadership fellow program, but was denied. This denial ended up being ironic by the end of his college career, as he held nearly twenty leadership positions over the course of his college career and won an institutional award for his leadership across campus and the community prior to graduation. 

Upon entering college, the student decided to join a fraternity and look for leadership opportunities. However, he was met with discouragement, being told he was “too young” to take on any major roles such as Interfraternity Council President. On the other hand, others pushed him to take a leap of faith towards this leadership position and several other opportunities at various campus organizations, which allowed him to transform his college experience. These positions led him to “hold [himself] to a higher standard,” and even “approach university leadership and make actual change.” In addition, these positions increased his sense of belonging on campus, which is essential to a student’s success and is commonly seen among student leaders (National Society of Leadership and Success 2024).  

During his time as an undergraduate student, he evolved his understanding of leadership and evolved his approach to the role:

  “When I was younger, I oftentimes related leadership to management (in terms of managing others)—but in college, my definition transitioned to empowering others, allowing them to become leaders and make change as well.”

We found this evolution in definition to be interesting, especially considering there is currently no standard definition for undergraduate leadership (Eich 2008; Keup 2016; Logue et al. 2005). This raises the question: How effective would it be to have students define leadership upon entering leadership roles? Would this promote agency and self-awareness among students?  

The Importance of Mentors 

During our interview with this student, one factor stood out as the most impactful for his success as a leader on campus: the importance of having strong mentors to rely on. The student named one mentor in particular who pushed him to take ownership of his abilities as a leader, encouraging him to make decisions and not rely on others to make them for him. As shown in their article “Supporting mentees through inclusive mentorship,” research conducted by Addy et al. (2023) highlights the importance of mentorship, emphasizing the positive outcomes it can have on students during their developmental journey. 

When looking back at his experience, the student was able to clearly reflect on the ways his multiple leadership opportunities impacted his current career choices. One that stuck out to him was being charged with making difficult decisions and being confident in those decisions. Moreover, the student gained real-world experience from these leadership roles, which he’s now able to apply in job settings. Both of these examples are noted by the National Society of Leadership and Success (2024) as benefits students gain while holding leadership positions during their undergraduate career. In addition, researcher Dan Erich (2008) noted all students engaged with leadership have the same opportunity to improve skills and knowledge. 

Conclusion  

Overall, the opportunity to be a student leader greatly impacted this student, his development, and success in college. We encourage all higher education professionals to consider the impact leadership may have while working with students on their current experience and future endeavors. 

References 

Addy, Tracie, Nill Addy, Brett Hendrickson, Mitchell, Khadijah. 2023. “Supporting mentees through inclusive mentorship.” Special Issue: Nurturing the Faculty-Student Mentoring Dynamic in Higher Education 2023 (175). https://doi.org/10.1002/tl.20554. 

Eich, Darin. 2008. “A grounded theory of high-quality leadership programs: Perspectives from student leadership development programs in higher education.” Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies 15(3): 176-187. https://doi.org/10.1177/1548051808324099.  

Keup, Jennifer R. 2016. “Peer leadership as an emerging high-impact practice: An exploratory study of the American experience.” Journal of Student Affairs in Africa 4(1). https://doi.org/10.14426/jsaa.v4i1.143. 

Logue, Christen, Teresa A. Hutchens, and Mark A. Hector. 2005. “Student Leadership: A Phenomenological Exploration of Postsecondary Experiences.” Journal of College Student Development 46(4): 393-408. https://dx.doi.org/10.1353/csd.2005.0039. 

National Society of Leadership and Success. 2024. “Diverse student leadership: empowering opportunities.” https://www.nsls.org/learning-center/diverse-student-leadership-empowering-opportunities.  

National Society of Leadership and Success. (2024). “The long-term impact of leadership skills on student career advancement.” https://www.nsls.org/learning-center/the-long-term-impact-of-leadership-skills-on-student-career-advancement.  

About the Author 

Alexa Berisford is a student in the Master of Arts in Higher Education program at Elon where she’s also a Graduate Apprentice in the Alumni Engagement office. As part of the MHE program’s coursework, Alexa collaborated with fellow students to research and write this series of blog posts on leadership in higher education.   

How to Cite This Post  

Berisford, Alexa. 2025. “Undergraduate Student Leadership through the Eyes of a Student” Center for Engaged Learning (Blog). Elon University, March 28. https://www.centerforengagedlearning.org/undergraduate-student-leadership-through-the-eyes-of-a-student.