Growing up in highschool we have all been encouraged to take part in more leadership roles, from student council to charity organiser or event head of school, as we make our way through the years we encounter numerous leadership positions which vary from school to school. In order to get a better perspective into these numerous roles and a better understanding of them, we interviewed three student leaders from different schools in the hope of gaining a deeper insight into what it is they do and also collect advice they may have to share with the rest of us!
Interviewees:
Nemmy from Shrewsbury International School Bangkok
Saloni from University of Edinburgh
Tom from Bangkok Patana School
Memo from ICS
Could you introduce yourself and the leadership role you held?
Nemmy: I am currently a prefect at Shrewsbury International School and I am in Year 13 planning to study Law in the UK.
Saloni: I’m Saloni, a third-year medical student at the University of Edinburgh currently intercalating in psychology. During my senior year at KIS, I served as President of the Student Council.
Tom: My name is Tom, I have been at Patana since Year 10 and love playing sports. I am currently a member of the senior delegate team, after being voted for by my peers.
Memo: My name is Memo and I was the class rep in grade 11 and now I am the student council president in grade 12. I was chosen for this role by an election in which peers and underclassmen voted.
What inspired you to apply for this leadership role?
Nemmy: Ever since I joined Shrewsbury, I’ve always wanted to make changes in the school and express my views and opinions about the school alongside being a voice for the other students so actions can be taken. When I first joined I noticed that the prefects who were older than me, got to take part in numerous opportunities and give an input into how the school could be run, which was something I’ve yearned for ever since.
Saloni: First, I’m a firm believer in the idea of students and staff working together to create an inclusive and close-knit community. I truly believe the Student Council is a valuable component of any school system and making a difference is important to me. So, this was what motivated me to run for Student Council which is really the first step. Second, I was fortunate to be elected as my class representative from Grades 8-11 and had the opportunity to observe how different leaders generated change in the community. I was hesitant to run for president because I wasn’t sure I would be able to handle the pressure. However, it helped to have such inspiring role models from whom I learnt vital skills such as how to cope with stress, talk to staff and board members, and plan and organise events. Third, I’ve touched lightly upon this already, but I wanted to give back to KIS in some way. I will always be grateful for the education and opportunities I was provided by the school and Student Council seemed like a surefire way to give back in a meaningful way.
Tom: I believed I would be able to listen to other people’s opinions to best represent the opinion of my year.
Memo: Experience in grade 11 has made me realize that I would like to continue to serve the school and improve from all the mistakes I made in my year of being class rep.
How long have you been in this position and what have you learnt from it?
Nemmy: A couple of months now, I have developed my leadership skills. Most importantly, I have improved tremendously in my time management skills as I learnt to balance the role along with finishing college applications to study Law in the UK.
Saloni: I served as president in my final year of high school and learnt a great deal from the role. I learnt a lot about how to collaborate with other students and motivate them to work on projects. I also learnt the intricacies of event planning and the importance of receiving feedback from the student body on how to improve. I’ve always been a rather shy and reticent person so serving as president pushed me to speak up for what I believed in and stand firm even in the most uncomfortable situations.
Tom: I’ve been in this position since the beginning of this year and I have learned many things, including organisational skills, when planning events and projects.
Memo: I’ve been in this position since August of 2021, the voting was decided at the end of the school year before. I learned how to work with different people and work as a group. Being the president of the student council has taught me responsibility and different ways of communication. You have to plan things, work with teachers and all in all organize and take care of the school events. The small details you don’t think about actually play a big part in every event. For example, if you are going to host an event with food stalls, where are you going to get a table from? What tablecloth? Who will order the food? And all those details.
If there was one thing you could change about your position what would it be?
Nemmy: Perhaps have a more active role in the community. Rather than meeting once every 2 weeks, it would be to meet regularly with the other prefect members but also this is something we are working on fixing and I cannot wait to see the outcome.
Saloni: Not a specific change to my position per se but as a member of the Student Council, I had noticed that it was always the older students who took responsibility for projects while the younger students wouldn’t be assigned anything to work on. As president, I tried to balance the delegation of tasks a little more, pairing younger students with older ones so that everyone would get some experience. However, most tasks ultimately always fell on older students to complete. I think the delegation of work needs to be improved so that it’s not the same set of students continuously taking charge.
Tom: I would change the amount of time we got to be in our roles. Due to covid, we started as delegates at the beginning of Year 13, as opposed to in term 3 of Year 12 like we would in a ‘normal’ year.
Memo: Instead of having 1 top leader, I’d prefer somewhere around 4. So there can be many leaders to help each other make decisions and have an equal amount of say. As of now, most choices are on the president and they have the final say, which is quite pressuring because if we make a right choice we get praise but if we make a wrong choice, we get criticized.
How does your school help you thrive in this role?
Nemmy: Shrewsbury provides a very good support system in terms of friends, teachers, higher education and the prefect body which is something I am extremely grateful for.
Saloni: The KIS staff was incredibly supportive of the Student Council. They encouraged us to propose events and ideas, and even sought feedback from us which made us feel respected. KIS, as a whole, is a caring and open-minded community. The student body, while, at times, difficult to encourage to participate, were quite enthusiastic about our events. So, being in a supportive environment made me feel more confident in my ability to lead.
Tom: Patana is very supportive with the tasks and roles it allows us to carry out, including a recent presentation given to the staff, which was run almost solely by senior and junior delegates.
Memo: The teachers that help and supervise the student council are very helpful, they help when we are stuck and confused but it is still fully student-lead and no big decisions are made or influenced by the student council.
Any advice for students who also want to apply for this position when the time comes?
Nemmy: Short and sweet: Do your best and be yourself in both your written application and your interview.
Saloni: Stay engaged with the school community. This means participating in events and showing school spirit. When attending events, make a note of things that worked and didn’t work. Notice things in the school that you genuinely think could be improved and don’t stop there! Create an action plan that you think could solve that problem you identified and take steps to initiate it (for e.g. talking to the principal or the Student Council, putting a team together). Finally, don’t be afraid to apply for the position when the time comes. It can feel overwhelming and scary but have confidence in yourself.
Tom: Make sure you have the time! The IB is a strenuous programme and if you don’t have enough time to juggle the challenge of being a delegate, then don’t apply! If you do, make sure you’re ready to commit and to listen to your Year’s student voice!
Memo: Being in the student council is super fun, you get to meet new people and sometimes you get to be friends with people you thought you would never talk to. You also get real work experience and better preparation skills when preparing for an event, like contacting businesses to rent food/a place.
Interviewed by:
— [Writer] Remika Sirikulthada (Remie) can be reached at [2022remie.s@shrewsbury.in.th].
Follow her on Instagram [@remieieie] or Facebook [Remika Sirikulthada].
— [Writer] Thanakorn Vajirakachorn (Gunn) can be reached at [thanakornv25@rism.ac.th].
Follow him on Instagram [not_gunn].
— [Writer] Sofia Lin can be reached at [soln26@patana.ac.th].
Follow her on Instagram [itsasofialin].
— [Writer] Tiarn Sripongtanakul can be reached at [28tiarn_s@students.ics.ac.th]
Follow her on Instagram at [t1arn_]
Compiled by:
— [Writer] Remika Sirikulthada (Remie) can be reached at [2022remie.s@shrewsbury.in.th].
Edited by:
— [Position] Full Name (Nickname) can be reached at [email].
Follow her on Instagram or Facebook .
