Here in India, it’s pretty rare for a student to start working before graduation.
We typically like to follow the trajectory of School<Bachelor’s degree< Master’s degree< unemployment.
In my high school, however, I experienced the challenges of managing an organization.
Based on a compelling academic, co-curricular, and disciplinary record, I was given an express entry to working with the student government.
I became the Head Boy, the overall in-charge of all student government affairs. My experiences became a valuable addition to my learning.
Below, I share two of my most important takeaways, and some interesting stories.
A leader serves the people around him
As a leader, I learned that the single most important aspect of my job was to serve my colleagues. To listen to them, understand their pain points, and deputize when necessary.
Such service took many forms, but it was of utmost importance that I help someone else from the student government every day.
Therefore, when the Event in-charges couldn’t find someone to give opening remarks at an event they were planning, I wrote an opening speech and became the person they were looking for.
And when the sports captains were making the rounds for calling up the athletes from the classrooms, I accompanied them so that if the teachers were unhappy with the whole idea, I would bear the brunt of their anger. It never really came to that, though. Our sports captains could be pretty darn charming when they wanted to.
I would optimize processes and arrange resources. Provide the right people to work with, and when nothing else worked, become the right person to work with. I wasn’t always successful, but through my efforts, I tried to ensure everyone else had the easiest job in being so.
The value of this mindset actually became etched in my memory on an inter-school competition trip.
I was in Lucknow. I and 20-odd other students had come here to participate in the literature festival and I was extremely anxious. Just a few moments before we were about to hear our results, I had got the news that I was selected for Head Boy. But in fact, there was another reason why my anxiety had multiplied manyfold. Last night, I had spent all my time listening to and helping out the students who had accompanied me. All of them but one were younger than I was, and many seemed nervous about their work. It seemed like the obvious course of action to listen to their prep and give them any pointers that I could. Consequently, by the time it was lights out, I didn’t have a lot of time to prepare for myself.
As the results started coming in, I was anxious about the outcomes of our team. Thankfully, As it turned out, I needn’t have.
Our school had destroyed everyone else. Event after event, we would listen to the announcer go “DPS….VINDHYANAGAR!!!” for the first prize winners. Student after student came back with a gold medal wrapped around their neck, and my confidence kept increasing exponentially. Soon, we had almost got used to hearing our name for the first prize winners.
Then came my own event. But even as I rose from my seat to grab my gold medal, I realized,
the announcer hadn’t really said my name.
I hadn’t won. For all our school’s glory and triumph, in my immediate mindset then, I was a loser.
Looking back, though, I realize how wrong I was. The entire goal of the event was to ensure our school won the overall champions trophy, and we did that brilliantly.
That was the baptism of fire I needed. In leadership, you’re not going to win every battle yourself. And you don’t have to. As long as you serve others and help them be stronger in their battles, your team is going to win the war. And that will make you a good leader.
A leader reflects the voice of his team
In essence, leaders are the representation of a team. I remember all the times I’ve had to present the wishes of the students to teachers and the administrative staff.
Working in the student government is a little more interesting though! Instead of just advocating for one side, members of the student government have to represent the teachers and the students equally!
In matters where there’s a conflict of interest, that’s where we really earn our badges. Thankfully, after a few months of experience, your communication improves significantly, and such matters become much easier to solve.
When the soccer team wants more training time but the teachers do not want their classes to go empty, we get the soccer team on the field before school begins, and in the classrooms as soon as the first period starts.
Another story comes to mind as I talk about echoing your team’s wishes.
Back in class 11th, very nearly closing in to the end of our year, we had a “confidence development” session. All middle school and high school students were brought down from our classrooms to the auditorium, where we stayed for the next three hours or so listening to a pretty unconfident speaker on the stage.
I’m usually all for sessions like these. There are soft skills which we need to learn much more than the concepts being taught to us in classrooms. This one, however, was an exceptional case. The entire session added nothing of value at all. It was three hours of our school time which we could never get back.
To make things worse, many teachers were in a time crunch. We were nearing the end of the year and some classes hadn’t completed nearly enough of their syllabus. By the end of the session, it was apparent that many were fuming.
At this stage, the speaker asked on the mic, “So can someone come up here and tell me if this was an eye-opening session for you?”
Everyone knew what the resounding answer was.
But here’s the deal. Everyone also knew that this was a guest speaker in the school. Saying anything negative even as feedback could have a consequence on our “image”.
It was then, after waiting for a couple of seconds that I rose from my seat, took the long trudge to the stage, grabbed the mic, and said,
“No”.
What followed became one of my fondest memories in high school. Students had a very definite answer to whether what I did that day was right. Everyone wanted to say the same thing. But by reflecting their collective wishes on the stage where it mattered, I had won their hearts.
The reactions from teachers were a little more mixed. By next year, however, I became the Head Boy, and I wonder if that was because of it or despite it.
Ever Since then, however, I’ve tried to make sure everyone felt heard and had a voice. And that has helped me develop loyalties and relationships I could never have imagined otherwise.
Student government became an interesting chapter of my life. By working alongside a group of multi-talented and diverse individuals, I learned how a team should function and be led.
And these stories? They are just here for me to tell them again to another audience! In the meantime, let me make some more.