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This year’s theme for National Student Leadership Week (April 17-23, 2011) is “Student Leaders Saving Lives through Leadership and Service.” There are plenty of ideas for projects being prepared for posting on the NHS, NJHS and NASC Web sites
(link to web site )
Photos and information from past years:
> The First National Student Government Day was September
26, 1972
> Nation Student Government Day was changed to April
in 1976
> The name was changed to National Student Leadership
Day in 1979
> National Student Leadership Week became a week long
celebration in 1983
National Student Leadership Week began as a single day
of recognition of student council leaders on September
26, 1972. Praising student councils for offering young
people "early and vital experience in exercising a voice
in matters of common concern, recognizing diverse interests,
and selecting leaders to express representative views,"
President Richard M. Nixon paid tribute to the nation’s
student councils and their leaders when he signed a
Presidential Proclamation officially declaring National
Student Government Day.
"One of the clearest lessons of
the past decade in America," the official statement
begins, "is that students want and deserve an appropriate
voice in their own affairs, and that education can be
better when they have such a voice." The President closed
the Proclamation by urging "all students to acquaint
themselves fully with the activities and programs of
the student governments and to take full and constructive
part in that government."
This Proclamation was announced
following nearly a year of negotiations between the
National Association of Student Councils (NASC) and
the White House. In the fall of 1971, then Assistant
Director of Student Activities, Terry Giroux approached
White House aides regarding the need to direct national
attention to the remarkable efforts of the nation’s
student councils and their role in involving young people
directly in participatory democracy.
NASC asked its members to strengthen
the message by initiating projects and programs focusing
on the organization of student councils in their individual
schools and communities. According to an article in
the September 1972 issue of Student Life Highlights
(a predecessor of Leadership for Student Activities),
the "NASC staff members view the celebration of National
Student Government Day as a substantial shot in the
arm for the nation’s student councils." "Our hope,"
said then Director of Student Activities Robert Gaut,
"is that honoring America’s youth leaders in this way
will spark renewed interest in the concept of student
government and will point the way to increased student
participation in the workings of this country’s schools."
National Student Government Day
recurred each fall over the next two years, then was
switched to the month of April beginning in 1976. In
1979 the name was changed to National Student Leadership
Day following a suggestion to expand the recognition
to all student leaders, including participants in student
council, National Honor Society, and clubs. The day
of recognition was held each year in April through 1982.
The following year, Secretary of Education Terrel Bell
declared April 25-29 National Student Leadership Week.
A week-long celebration has occurred every year since
then.
(Information from Leadership
for Student Activities, February 2000)
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