How do you become a campus leader? The process varies by the type of leadership experience you want. But one thing is common in all cases, you need to get started early in your college career.

If your leadership goal involves an organization, here’s the process you should follow:

1. Identify the organization you want to become involved with. See the topic: Finding The Leadership Opportunity That Works For You for more guidance on this. You can find a list of organizations on your campus website. (Look up student organizations). Most organizations also have a webpage that describes their mission, their activities, and their officers.
2. Start attending meetings and get involved. Get to know the members of the organization. You can also determine if this is the group you want to commit to.
3. When the organization has elections (typically in the spring semester), run for office. You will probably get selected for one of the lesser offices and serve in this position as a sophomore.
4. When elections occur in your sophomore year, run for one of the top offices in the organization. You may even have a good chance of running for president if you have made an important contribution.
5. At the end of your junior year, run for president of the organization. If you have been an officer the prior two years, you should have an excellent chance of becoming president.
6. Use your time as president to take the organization to new levels in such areas as:
   • Membership
   • Activities
   • Campus Recognition
   • Financial Health

If your leadership involves more of an individual agenda, here are some things you can do.

1. Make an inquiry about volunteer activities where you can make a difference. Most campuses have a Service Learning office that can help connect you to volunteer opportunities.
2. Try to locate a faculty mentor who can help you initiate your own activity. This could be a business idea you have, a course you want to promote, a support service that currently doesn’t exist, or anything that you are passionate about. Think of the faculty mentor as your consultant. Typically in this role, your faculty mentor could help facilitate the creation of the activity and connect you to others who might have a similar interests.

As you can see from these strategies, you need to begin your plan in your freshman year.