Urban prides itself on the abundance of leadership opportunities it offers its students. During admissions events, Urban often attributes this high level of student involvement to the pure passion for change-making that they claim their students hold, and they tout the positive change they believe their students spur. I was drawn to Urban as an eighth-grader because of this culture. However, the reality of student leadership at Urban—both how spaces function and the motivations of student-leaders—can differ from the preconceptions that students bring into Urban as 9th graders.

For Palmer Dean ‘22, a member of SAC, Multiculti and Urban’s secretary—a role that involves being on Stuco’s executive board—her desire to become a student leader stemmed from an intense drive to over-perform in high school. Dean applied for most of her community involvement roles at the end of her 9th-grade year. As a middle schooler and freshman, Dean said, “I was a really hyper-focused, organized middle schooler and I felt like I had to plan out my whole future.” Although she enjoyed the spaces that she attended as a freshman, she longed for a more powerful role in the community.

Mia Smith ‘23 co-leads the Black Student Union, is a deputy on Student Committee, and is a member of the Student Admissions Committee (SAC). As a freshman, she felt that being a leader was integral to her high school experience if she wanted to be successful in college admissions and beyond. “The reality of being a person of color is that you have to do more than anyone else if you want to be regarded at the same level as your white peers by colleges,” said Smith. “Leading affinity spaces is validated by Urban because it is often used as a tool to draw in prospective students.” Smith’s perspective highlights how students of color can feel pressure to hold leadership roles. There are a variety of student motivations to become a leader, including college aspirations.

However, Caroline Wu ‘22, a co-leader of the Asian and Pacific Islander affinity space, a track and cross country captain and a co-editor of Yearbook feels that student involvement driven by college is unfortunate. “When I hear people say that they’re doing something for college, it really makes me upset because I lead these spaces because I care about the school’s future.”

Wu said her desire to be a student-leader has always stemmed from internal pressures. Wu comes from an immigrant family, which she said has driven her to succeed. “In every aspect of my life, I feel the need to constantly reaffirm that my family has made it, which is like a lot of pressure that I put on myself,” Wu said. Her passion for the school community, however, is why she enjoys what she does.

Criticisms of student-leaders, however, are common among Urban students. During his four years at Urban, through attending spaces like YMG and speaking to his peers Enzo Klaus ‘22 has observed the dynamics of student leadership. He said, “[student leadership] is a reward for brown-nosing: people who have better bonds with the teachers are more likely to get student positions.” Even in leadership groups where student opinion determines who gets in, Klaus believes that being in leadership positions often enhances faculty’s perceptions of a person, which can lead to better grades. Klaus went on to say that “due to the rubric system, Urban teachers have more room to assert their opinions in grading. In all of the classes where I’ve been close with my teachers, I’ve gotten a good grade. Student leaders are often praised at Urban, especially by our faculty.”

During Dean’s time at Urban, she has seen a number of people who have not been accepted to any roles that they have applied for. She noted that some student-leader elections are more based on “likeability” rather than qualification. “It is a popularity thing, because there are some kids who have tried a billion times to get into any group and have zero success and some kids who are on literally every group and they don’t necessarily need to be.” Students who are already popular in the Urban community are given more power through affinity spaces, clubs or student government.

The intense personal motivations of student-leaders and the ‘type’ of student that is often granted leadership positions contribute to the unbalanced relationships that can occur between peers. “Sometimes [student leaders] can leverage their power for good,” said Klaus, “but a lot of times, [I think] it validates feelings of power over their peers. As a result, they expect people to listen to them more. I don’t know if arrogance is the right word…but…” he said.

Klaus feels that the way leaders use this power often stems from whether or not their personal philosophies include “Accepting that not everyone is going to care as much as you do, and recognizing that your peers are your peers.”

This criticism is not true of all leaders. “I think that a lot of student leaders, the people that end up becoming some of the like, the bigger roles are very humble people that aren’t trying to create superiority,” said Dean.

Whether it be through the yearbook, journalism, or affinity spaces, student leadership definitely allows students’ voices to be heard. The work that student-leaders do takes a lot of effort. “I’m doing my best to be a good captain and a good role model, being really supportive and like, constantly bringing positive energy,” said Wu. Even as a student leader, however, Wu sees that the Urban community should find a way to utilize student passion in a way that does not foster competition or hierarchy, but rather growth and understanding. Wu said, “I see that in how leadership roles are divided, and how that causes tension between people who are superiors to those in their own grade. It’s so passive-aggressive and obnoxious.”

Part of what intrigued Klaus so much about Urban as an eighth-grader was the lack of hierarchy that seemed present in the community. He talked about how much he liked the fact that students were able to call teachers by their first names, and how he hoped that this environment would quell competitiveness. “So, I think it’s really strange, especially to see, sometimes a more commanding relationship between two students than there are between students and faculty,” he went on to say.