The first question I had when the double role of student council advisor and leadership teacher was dropped on me was, “What even does a student council advisor actually do?”

I really had no real idea. I’d imagine it’s your question, too, if you just landed (or were handed) the job! Being able to take on the role requires first understanding what it entails beyond the generic job description. Below, I’ve captured the most essential duties and roles a great advisor does effectively.

Remember, though, it’s always an ongoing practice to do and be these things. Some are easier than others, depending on your strengths. I’m not the best at all of these, but I try to work towards fulfilling them.

If you are just starting out, pick a couple to focus on. Do not think you need to do all of them immediately in your first year as an advisor!

Cultivate an Inclusive Environment

First and foremost, a strong student council advisor operates from a place of inclusion—every event, every action, every message.

They promote that student council is not just open to but encourages students with all interests and backgrounds to join. They also insist that every event and project is open to all students and actively encourage participation.

The best way I’ve found to instill this is with a student-written mission statement. In the first week of the year, we draft and sign a group-created statement.

My only requirement is that the word inclusive or phrasing like all students is in there. That way, when things come up (and they do!) where students could be better at considering all students, I can simply point to our mission statement.

This is especially useful during brainstorming or debriefing sessions. For example, asking ourselves, “Could these dress-up days ideas exclude any students?” Or, “Could we have encouraged more students to participate in the class competition at the assembly?”

Spend the first few weeks of the school year doing a variety of activities, like writing a mission statement, to build this culture of inclusion.

Be Organized

I couldn’t not include this one. It’s obvious, for sure, but I can’t stress enough how central it is to being a great student council advisor. Organizational systems are a must.

These are some of the systems that work well for me:

Get clear tubs for art supplies—washable markers, permanent markers, scissors, glue sticks—that fit on your cabinet shelves. Then, label on the shelf where each tub goes.

Get clear large tubs for bulky items—holiday lights, assembly props, game props, disposable plates and cups, etc. Tape a list with all the contents inside the tub.

Have students gather all their event planning forms into how-to packets for future groups to look at, storing them in hanging folder crates.

Create officer binders with all relevant forms like these: the constitution, their job descriptions, teamwork protocols, and idea reference sheets.

Set up an email folder so that anything student council-related gets placed there. As an advisor, you’ll be getting a lot more emails.

Set an alarm to go off 5 minutes before class ends each day as a clean-up reminder.

Plan for a few organization days throughout the year—once a quarter, or mid-year and at the end. Cleaning up and organizing things is your officers’ responsibility, so be sure they are doing it, not you. These Clean-Up Crew cards make it super easy—just print and hand them out.

Give Students Ownership

Great advisors empower students to truly be the ones in charge of any student council projects and initiatives. Every assembly, dance, and fundraiser is their event.

This means the advisor is more of a mentor on the side. They offer brainstorming, planning, and reflecting protocols but leave the decision-making and actions to their officers. They provide forms as well as tips and reminders throughout the process.

This can be hard if you are a brand-new advisor. That’s why I can’t recommend my Student Council Advisor Starter Kit enough to have everything ready to go from year one.

Having all the forms to hand out on the first day of a project, I learned quickly, pre-establishes the guardrails so you can then let them lead.

Foster Civic Literacy

Truly, the origins of student councils are in exactly this—granting teenagers the experience of participating in a democracy so they are equipped to do so in adulthood. They run for office, elections are held, they abide by a constitution, and they make decisions for the whole student body—it truly is a functioning government.

So, make it overt. Tell your student leaders they are learning and doing these things because they are essential for the greater democratic society.

Have a few lessons or projects that involve your local city or county elected officials. Have students write letters to the editor or complete political service hours. If your state allows it and you’re at a high school, you could even work with your county election office to pre-register students to vote.

Encourage Creativity and Innovation

This often isn’t how students are allowed to think in school, yet it’s essential in life and business. So, all the more, great advisors use their role to practice this type of thinking.

There can be a lot of traditions baked into your school—certain homecoming events or ways graduation has always been done. But feel free to tell your students that it’s up to them to keep, tweak, or replace them. And then simply pose some questions.

For example, “How else could we do this?” Or “How could we add more X to this?” Or even, “Does this really uphold our mission statement even though it’s what we’ve always done?”

The consensus may still totally be to keep the tradition going, but by asking the questions, you are inviting some great higher-level decision-making and opening the door to innovating new ideas.

A tried-and-true protocol from the business world, a SWOT analysis, is also great in this brainstorming stage. It stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats.

To balance these event-planning-specific exercises, consider bringing in more fun general creative thinking and problem-solving activities throughout your year too.

Set Achievable & Stretch Goals

One of the essential life skills that student council can really develop, as opposed to a core subject, is goal setting and action planning—looking at a blank calendar, writing down future goals, and then mapping out the steps to get there.

Every year, I buy a big wall calendar for us for exactly this. We spend time before each season mapping out what events and projects they want to complete.

For individual events, like an assembly, students fill out a calendar as part of their event planning packet to backward plan key deadlines.

I also like to weave in personal goal setting, both at the start of the year and in January to kick-off second semester. We use this goal-setting activity to create personal stretch goals.

Support Interpersonal & Team Building Skills

A great advisor uses this space to expressly teach all those soft skills that we expect middle and high school students to learn along the way.

This is one of my favorite parts of being an advisor—teaching how to succeed in life. If you meet with your student council as a dedicated class or teach a Leadership class, weave in explicit lessons practicing them.

We call them Leadership Skill Days, but really, they’re just good people skills. Skills like thinking outside the box to problem solve or taking conscious steps to be more empathic and kind to others.

I pencil in about one a week, wherever they best fit. For example, a mindfulness activity right before finals week or a public speaking one before our first big assembly of the year.

Great advisors also use moments in the project planning process to introduce various brainstorming, decision-making, and debriefing protocols.

Recognize & Celebrate Achievements

This one is the flip side of all that goal-setting and skill-growth work. The kids themselves have shared what they hope to accomplish and how they want to grow, so all you have to do is give the shout-outs!

Use post-event debriefs to recognize not just great work but students who stepped outside their comfort zone, tried something new, or demonstrated a great life skill.

I also have a card basket out on the counter for anyone to grab a thank you or shout-out card and write a quick note any time.

Locker signs are another way to recognize all students, from sports and clubs to birthdays and new students.

Lead by Example

When you’re in the business of teaching life and social skills, great advisors absolutely must model them.

I have found narrating out loud works really well. That way, my student leaders really see me doing it. For example, when brainstorming for a project, I might say, “Might any of these ideas cause some students to feel excluded…” or “Okay, this is a big project. Let’s get out the calendar and start backward planning…”

Another way I strive to lead by example is by doing any of our personal growth challenges along with the students. So, I pick my one word for the year, complete a random acts of leadership BINGO board, or select and read a leadership book along with my students.

I hope these ideas have given you a better understanding of ways to approach being a student council advisor! If you’re starting from scratch, I recommend checking out my Student Council Advisor Starter Kit, which has all the forms and templates you need, and my Intro to Leadership unit, which has four weeks of essentials to kick off an awesome year.

Feature image credit: Kobe, via Pexels