<p>Two of D’s friends lost an election to be Freshman Class Officers. One of them gave up on the whole thing and never ran again. The other started going to Student Gov’t meetings instead - not as an elected rep, but just as a student. She pitched in and helped out. Now she is a Senior and she was just elected President of the Student Council. </p>
<p>Another kid ran against the sitting Class President, going in to Senior year. He made a stirring speech about all the things he would do “better” than the existing officers. Then the incumbent President got up and said, “In the last three years I have never seen you at a single Class Officer meeting. You have never once approached me or any of the current officers with any of your ideas. No one ever remembers seeing you at a Student Government meeting. If you really cared about making this school “better,” where were you for the last 3 years?” The challenger lost the election. </p>
<p>My point is that if your son really cares about the group he lost the election in, encourage him to remain involved and to pitch in to help. There will be other opportunities to run or to be appointed, and if he’s been working all along he will be in a good position to take advantage of them. And even if he never gets the “title,” he’ll be able to write and speak intelligently about the work he did for a group/cause he cares about. As Curmudgeon said, colleges and employers love to hear about WHAT you did - not what your title was.</p>
<p>edit - I LOVE Jessiehl’s posting above - I suspect this is what the OP was really asking about. Bravo, Jessiehl!</p>