Developing Student Leaders

Student leadership has been a thread through Mr. Kleve’s classroom for years. The structure has changed over time, but the purpose has stayed remarkably consistent: give students meaningful responsibility, help them find their voice, and create real opportunities to lead.

Across 22 years teaching in South Sioux City, student leadership became an important part of the classroom experience. At Lewis & Clark, one formal expression of that work was the Student Leadership Council: 12 fourth- and fifth-grade students and two advisors working to bring students together through leadership, service, and community involvement.

Those opportunities were not about collecting a title. They were about learning that students can contribute to their school and community in meaningful ways.

The BAGO Mic brings communication, confidence, listening, storytelling, interviewing, teamwork, responsibility, and student voice into the experience of the whole class.

It does not speak for the Winnebago community. It gives students a real platform to add their voices to a much larger community of Winnebago voices and to learn from others when those opportunities are available.

You do not have to be the loudest person in the room to lead. Leadership can look like listening, including someone, asking a thoughtful question, helping a classmate, admitting a mistake, taking responsibility, or doing the right thing when nobody is watching.

Help students find their voice.
Help them become leaders.
Help them understand that they can change the world.