How do some people manage to have so many leadership positions?

Retrench · 07-11-2012, 06:07 PM

It seems unlikely to me that a student could have more than two leadership positions, take 4+ AP classes, get a 2300+ on the SAT, and volunteer for 500 hours all in one year.

How can a student be Editor-in-Chief of Yearbook, President of FBLA, Secretary of Key Club, Editor of School Newspaper, and Vice President of Student Government? There aren't enough hours in a day to accomplish so many things. It's also an abomination how students are encouraged to work harder than their parents in order to be accepted to prestigious universities.

I took 5 AP classes in my junior year and was exhausted every single day. I don't know about you, but I need my beauty sleep (at least 8 hours). It seems like some kids are so caught up in the college admissions race that they forget to sleep and remember that they are KIDS!

santookie · 07-11-2012, 06:24 PM

Hmm I would say yes and no.

My son out of his own voalition decided to take 5 APs this coming senior year. We (parents) were against it and so was his counselor. But he got a 4.0 taking 3 APs the year before. He started a robotics team and won it his first year, did cross country, and tried to win student government. No idea how they cram all this into the few hours a day. In addition I turn around and see him playing games on the computer every so often. How the hell did he pull it off. Don't know about this generation. He's definitely smart the his parents thats for sure (academically only).

ArtsyGirl13 · 07-11-2012, 06:32 PM

Speaking as somebody with a good number of leadership positions, some of them take little to no time outside of school, I end up doing them because I like them, not because I think they will look good. Here are a few examples of how they don't take much time...

I am the membership officer for NAHS, I am excused from (art) class to talk to students about NAHS and can do all the filing work during our meetings. I am co-president of Model UN, I do 90 precent of the coordinating work when I am on the bus (by texting people) and in the morning before school, if I need to do research for a competition I print articles and read them during an easy class or when we have a sub/are watching a movie. I am on a leadership board for my golf course, we only meet once a month, you end up on the board because you are involved already (which is my primary community service).

I end up spending most of my time doing a few activities I love most and homework (my school ends very late and I get home anywhere between 4:00 and 9:00 depending on what I have after school that day).

That being said I don't get eight hours of sleep during the school year (even weekends). I get 5-6 hours of sleep on school days and around seven on weekends (I have to be up in the morning for coaching on Saturday and a language class for credits on Sunday). I do very few things for colleges, I just do a lot because I enjoy it (even crazy honors/AP classes that produce too much homework).

termah420 · 07-11-2012, 10:27 PM

I ask myself the same question everyday.. how some people win everything and I always lose elections, lol. A lot of things in high school are just a popularity contest I guess, and more often than not, that person with 3 leadership positions/rigorous classes/etc is just really good at hiding stress.

ginathegenius · 07-12-2012, 12:28 AM

I think a lot of the activities are a bit overrated. As for the volunteer hours, some very nice volunteer coordinators give their volunteers many more hours to help them get into univs.

ayerfair · 07-12-2012, 01:53 AM

Honestly I don't understand when people say that they don't have enough time to do activities.

I'm Key Club president, former class president, varsity debate team captain (got 4th at state and 13th nationally this year), did broadcast journalism (1st in the short documentary category), started my own club to help homeless youth, am currently writing a nonfiction book, got a 2230 on my SAT (not amazing but okay) and do IB. I'm also in FBLA, another community service club, and play varsity ice hockey.

And even with those activities I find myself just surfing the web or reading a lot of the time. I guess part of it may be that I get a lot of my work done during school hours - I can maintain my grades even if I don't go to class and so sometimes I will be excused to get other work done.

A lot of it is also time management though. What do you do with your day when you're not at school or studying?