Leadership Role in VCE

[Snow Leopard]

Hey,

I was wondering if it's advisable to take up a leadership role in VCE?
I'm not thinking of Vice School Captain or anything that involves your peers voting for you because I've tried out for leadership roles in previous years where my peers had to vote for me and I've literally never gotten the leadership role.  The only leadership roles that I've gotten, I got because we there were not too many people trying out for it so I automatically got the role.
But for VCE, our school has a few roles which the teachers will interview you and choose you, not your peers.
Would it be worth it going for one of those leadership positions and would it eat into the time of my academics?

P.S: I wasn't sure if this was the right place to post this thread, so yeah...

[Aaron]

Always handy to put on a CV. Without any extra-curriculars, your initial CV when you go for a first job will look quite plain. In any situation, you have to show commitment, initiative and something to 'stand out'.

If you don't do much outside of school at the moment, I would definitely recommend doing it. It's great for your personal development as well, the skills you build and knowing what you do is contributing positively to your school community.

Any school-based leadership role shouldn't eat up too much into your time. I guess you have to weigh up whether you can maintain all of these things at once. Do you have any previous experience to look back on, that proves you are capable of good organisation/time management etc? If you are thinking about employment (e.g. on a casual basis during VCE) then I probably wouldn't suggest doing it as school, job and co-curric's may be a bit too much. Two of the three mentioned, at most.

[brynstar]

If you're not going for school captain or vice captain, I'm almost certain you'd be absolutely fine

I was school captain in year 12 (and wasn't at all a popular kid, despite what you might think, just good at making funny speeches). Anyway, I managed to balance it with my studies quite well - at times, it provided a welcome break. We did have this leadership coordinator who was a bit of a control freak and tried to make the school captains meet with her every week during spare periods but if you have to work with a teacher like that, you just need to learn to say no and prioritise your studies once in a while.

It's also good if you ever need a reference from a teacher!

[caffinatedloz]

All of the kids at my school who had leadership roles in Year 12 also did really well at VCE. Our dux (98.65) was social justice co-captain. The other social justice co-captain and the school co-captains all got ATARs over 90. The social justice co-captain also got top scores from our school for two of her subjects: Psychology and VET Business. Our performing arts captain also got an ATAR over 90.

In other words, students with leadership positions still did really well. Whether it was due to their personalities (and that diligent students are the type of people who apply for leadership positions) or because of the motivation and other benefits of the position, who knows?

Many of the school leaders also won awards (because of the work they did in their positions) which will also look really good on their resume. These included the Caltex All-Rounder Award, Community Service Award, Natalie Vita's Writing Award and Mary Aikenhead Ministry's Social Justice award. Every award given to a Year 12 (with one exception) was given to someone with a school leadership position.

TL;DR- Having a leadership position in Year 12 does not sabotage your VCE or your ATAR, as long as you can find a balance. There are also many benefits to having a leadership position.

[Snow Leopard]

All of the kids at my school who had leadership roles in Year 12 also did really well at VCE. Our dux (98.65) was social justice co-captain. The other social justice co-captain and the school co-captains all got ATARs over 90. The social justice co-captain also got top scores from our school for two of her subjects: Psychology and VET Business. Our performing arts captain also got an ATAR over 90.

In other words, students with leadership positions still did really well. Whether it was due to their personalities (and that diligent students are the type of people who apply for leadership positions) or because of the motivation and other benefits of the position, who knows?

Many of the school leaders also won awards (because of the work they did in their positions) which will also look really good on their resume. These included the Caltex All-Rounder Award, Community Service Award, Natalie Vita's Writing Award and Mary Aikenhead Ministry's Social Justice award. Every award given to a Year 12 (with one exception) was given to someone with a school leadership position.

TL;DR- Having a leadership position in Year 12 does not sabotage your VCE or your ATAR, as long as you can find a balance. There are also many benefits to having a leadership position.

I get where you're coming, but for my school there generally wouldn't be more than 3 people getting Atars above 90 and the dux who got above 98 wasn't a school captain, vice school captain or portfolio captain. Maybe he was Class Captain or something like that but not much more.

Also, every year one of our School Captains will get a reasonably high Atar, but not more than 80, as far as I know anyways. However, I do agree that students that have leadership roles would be more likely to get awards which you could put on your resume. I'm not considering trying out for such a high leadership position because this would involve your peers voting for you, which I don't think I'd go well in from past experience.

However, I do want to try out for other leadership roles.  We have to sign up to attend an afterschool leadership session (which I'm fine with) and a full day leadership program where we'll miss an entire day of school, which is why I'm reluctant to put my name down for it.

I just want to try out for something like House Captain not a portfolio captain and ussually hardly anyone tries out for this role, so I'd have to make a speech but it would still be likely that I get. But at the same time, I don't want to miss a day of school for this.

[PhoenixxFire]

For what it’s worth, I missed about 4 weeks of school in year 12 and got a 90 atar, and I’d guess no more than 3-5 people got 90+ my year and the highest anyone at my school has ever gotten was around 95.

Obviously up to you and what your priorities are, but I definitely wouldn’t let missing a bit of school put you off it if it’s something you want to do. (But also don’t overestimate the value of having it for your resume, especially if you have other work/volunteer experience, if it’s not something you want to do).

[Joseph41]

I think it's a great idea to give it a crack if that's what your gut is telling you. Leadership positions can be excellent experience.

You could give this article a read, too (relevant for all leadership positions despite the title): "Should I apply for School Captain in Year 12?"