Student councils are a great way for students to take on leadership roles, promote the voice of the student body, solve problems and impact his or her community.

Student councils are powerful leadership and learning opportunities. A council serves as the voice for an entire student body and actively works with teachers and advisors to promote a better learning environment.

Once an election is announced, students perform a critical assessment about his or her own abilities and skills and decide whether he or she would like to serve on the student council. This is an excellent critical self-reflection that can really help students measure the roles that best fit them or even identify personal weaknesses they would like to shore up.

In addition to boosting confidence, student councils improve communication skills. When a student chooses to run for student council, he or she must be able to speak publicly. Once elected, these individuals must also be comfortable speaking openly with other student officers — including problem solving and accepting feedback.

Student councils promote a sense of personal responsibility among students. Students running for student council are taking on leadership roles on behalf of the entire student body — he or she must then promote and uphold the values of the entire student body.

Serving on a student council and running for election are great opportunities for teaching and learning the principles of networking. When campaigning and trying to reach the student body for votes, students learn the value of networking and the skills necessary for successful networking.

Student council programs also help to boost the resumes of elected students. Serving on a student council looks great on college applications and can be a great topic for student admission essays.