15 Leadership Extracurricular Ideas for High School Students
Leadership is a highly valued skill set that matters in academics, extracurriculars, and also what colleges look for. Working on extracurriculars as a high school student helps you gain experience in different areas, build your resume, and gather talking points for college applications.
What do leadership extracurriculars involve?
Leadership extracurriculars range from starting a club or running for student council to building a business or organizing a community campaign. Whether you're interested in debating, building a business, academic research, team sports, or drama club, there's an extracurricular activity out there that will help you develop leadership skills.
Why pursue leadership extracurriculars in high school?
These activities teach you to manage responsibility, work with others toward a shared goal, and make decisions under real conditions rather than hypothetical ones. Building this kind of experience early gives you something concrete to point to on college applications, beyond grades and test scores.
In this blog, we've curated a list of 15 leadership extracurricular ideas for high school students. If you're specifically interested in building a venture, our guides on startup tips for young entrepreneurs and how to start a business when you're under 18 can help you go deeper.
Quick Look
5 ideas best for students interested in business or entrepreneurship: building a business, participating in competitions, applying for internships, becoming a student mentor or tutor, and joining student council
4 ideas best for students interested in communication or public speaking: speech and debate, drama club, organizing a student-run journal, and starting a virtual hobby group
3 ideas requiring zero cost to start: starting a club, volunteer work, and advocating for an environmental cause
2 ideas suited to academically-driven students: organizing a student-run journal and joining the National Honor Society
1 idea with a structured, mentor-led path already built in: building a business, which you can pursue independently or through a guided program like Young Founders Lab if you want more structured support
15 Leadership Extracurricular Ideas for High School Students
1. Start a Club
Starting and leading a club shows initiative and helps you develop your leadership skills. Start a club at your school related to any of the fields you are interested in, ranging from computer science to debating. Talk to teachers to help you put this together, gather members, and organize weekly activities.
Why it works for high schoolers: Allows high school students to pursue a specific interest while demonstrating initiative, organization, and leadership
2. Organize a student-run journal
If you are interested in academic research, you can start a student-run journal at your school to publish research. Bring in a faculty member to be an editor-in-chief or advisor, and figure out a way to make the journal peer-reviewed. You can also bring in more academics to peer review your articles before getting published. Take inspiration from existing journals.
Why it works for high schoolers: Introduces students to academic research, editing, and collaborative publishing
3. Build a Business
Building a business requires wearing many hats and can build the skill for learning on the go. Building a business from the ground up requires ideation, market research, talking to your target audience, managing finances, and, overall, the opportunity to learn what you wouldn't otherwise. If you're looking to build a business and are looking for a structured program to guide you through the process, consider joining the Young Founders Lab.
Why it works for high schoolers: Offers hands-on experience in problem-solving, decision-making, and entrepreneurship
4. Playing team sports
Playing team sports such as soccer or volleyball, or even individual sports such as track, can help you learn to work alongside others and develop leadership skills. Participating in competitive sports will test you on many fronts, including reliability, focus, and teamwork. Even if you're not chosen as a captain or make varsity, you can volunteer to teach a smaller league or volunteer at a sports summer camp.
Why it works for high schoolers: Strengthens teamwork, discipline, communication, and resilience
5. Enrolling in a drama club
Enrolling in a drama club and participating in stage productions will give you the experience of working alongside a huge cast where people have different roles, but all work together. You will also get to perform on stage, practice public speaking skills, and build confidence performing in front of an audience.
Why it works for high schoolers: Develops confidence, creativity, public speaking, and collaboration
6. Volunteer Work
Volunteer work allows you to work on causes you are passionate about while building meaningful skills in project management, teamwork, and leadership. As you spend time with a particular non-profit or cause and gain volunteer experience, you can help newer participants and volunteers learn how to contribute meaningfully and make a good impression.
Why it works for high schoolers: Connects students with meaningful causes while teaching responsibility and teamwork
7. National Honor Society
The National Honor Society offers leadership training and academic guidance to high school students who are academically motivated and meet other criteria, such as community contributions and demonstrated initiative. Joining the NHS will open a lot of opportunities for you, where you get to work on your leadership skills, while also being surrounded by other hardworking students.
Why it works for high schoolers: Combines academic achievement with service, leadership, and community involvement
8. Apply for Internships
Internships allow you to go beyond the classroom and gain experience working on real projects alongside seasoned professionals. You will gain in-depth knowledge of different industries you're interested in, learn about different roles, and what day-to-day actually looks like. You will also gain access to mentorship opportunities, network with a range of people, and gain experience you can include on your resume.
Why it works for high schoolers: Provides exposure to professional environments and possible career paths
9. Joining Student Council
Joining the student council is a great way to build leadership skills, represent the student body, and bring change. Selection for the student council varies but can include a minimum GPA, a good record, or even campaigning and running for election. Once you join the student council, you get to represent your classmates, work alongside administration and faculty, organize events, and work on improving campus life.
Why it works for high schoolers: Teaches students to represent others, manage responsibilities, and lead school initiatives
10. Participating in competitions
Competitions provide a great space for learning in a high-pressure, competitive environment where you compete with peers and showcase your skills. You can participate in different competitions, including STEM, entrepreneurship, case comps, and more. Many of these competitions take place over days in a group format, where you work alongside teammates and practice leadership and teamwork skills.
Why it works for high schoolers: Challenges students to apply their skills and perform under pressure
11. Joining a speech and debate club
Speech and debate is a valuable extracurricular activity that helps you practice public speaking, organize your thoughts, and build good communication skills. These skill sets are necessary in most academic and professional career pathways and are an essential addition to leadership development.
Why it works for high schoolers: Sharpens public speaking, critical thinking, and persuasive communication
12. Becoming a student mentor or tutor
Taking the opportunity to mentor or tutor newer students is a great way to increase your confidence, build communication skills, and develop your leadership skills. You can tutor students on a specific topic or subject that you're well-versed in and build professional skill sets that will help you with leadership.
Why it works for high schoolers: Builds patience, confidence, and responsibility through helping others learn
13. Advocate for an environmental cause
If you are passionate about the environment, you can pick an issue that you think people around you will benefit from knowing about and build a campaign to raise more awareness on this issue. This could be sustainability, zero waste, carbon emissions, and more. You can also build a fundraising campaign around your cause and donate to nonprofits working towards it.
Why it works for high schoolers: Turns personal interests into meaningful advocacy and community action
14. Organize a local art exhibition
If you're creative and surrounded by other artsy people who enjoy making art, organizing a local art exhibition can be a great way to build recognition for local artists and connect more people with art. This would require renting out a local space, partnering with a local gallery, and reaching out to artists to invite them to participate in the exhibition.
Why it works for high schoolers: Develops event planning, outreach, coordination, and creative leadership
15. Start a virtual hobby group
Starting something virtually means you can invite people from all over the world, but it also requires serious coordination and management skills to ensure everything runs smoothly. You can start a hobby group over something you like, such as poetry, book reading, or even a coding or debating club. Find a platform where members can have discussions and organize weekly Zoom meetups.
Why it works for high schoolers: Makes it possible to build a community while practicing coordination and project management
Looking to enhance your leadership skills in middle school?
If you want mentorship from successful entrepreneurs, the Junior Innovator Program is one of the strongest programs you can join in middle school. It’s a 100% virtual start-up boot camp run by Harvard entrepreneurs, designed specifically for students who want to launch a company or non-profit.
In this program, you’ll get hands-on mentorship from founders and professionals from Google, Microsoft, McKinsey, and YC-backed companies, while building a venture that solves a real-world problem. You’ll attend live workshops, explore business fundamentals, refine your idea, and work toward a fully developed MVP and pitch.
Multiple cohorts run throughout the year, including summer, fall, winter, and spring, so you can join whenever it fits your schedule. Financial aid is available, and the program is open to all middle school students, with no prior experience required.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. Which leadership extracurricular is best for students interested in entrepreneurship
Building a business is the most direct option on this list, since it requires you to wear multiple hats at once: ideation, market research, customer outreach, and financial management. If you want a structured program rather than building entirely on your own, the Young Founders Lab is a real-world startup bootcamp founded by Harvard entrepreneurs where you build a revenue-generating business with mentorship from professionals at companies like Google, Microsoft, and X. Participating in competitions is another strong option if you want a shorter-term, team-based introduction to entrepreneurial thinking before committing to building something of your own.
2. Do leadership extracurriculars need to involve a formal title, like student council or club president?
No. While student council and starting a club are both strong options for visible, title-based leadership, many of the activities on this list build the same skills without requiring an elected or formal position. Volunteer work, becoming a student mentor or tutor, and advocating for an environmental cause all let you demonstrate initiative and responsibility without needing to be appointed to a role. What matters most to colleges is evidence that you took ownership of something and saw it through, regardless of whether the activity came with an official title.
3. Which leadership extracurriculars can I do entirely on my own, without needing a school-sponsored club?
Several activities on this list don't require school approval or an existing club structure. Building a business, starting a virtual hobby group, advocating for an environmental cause, and organizing a local art exhibition can all be started independently, often with free tools like Notion, Zoom, or Canva. These self-directed options can be especially valuable if your school doesn't already offer a club aligned with your interests, since they let you build leadership experience entirely on your own initiative.