A class president, also known as a class representative, is usually the leader of a

student body A students' union, also known by many other names, is a student organization present in many colleges, universities, and high schools. In higher education, the students' union is often accorded its own building on the campus, dedicated to social ...

class, and presides over its class

cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filing ...

or organization within a

student council A student council (also known as a student union, associated student body or student parliament) is an administrative organization of students in different educational institutes ranging from elementary schools to universities and research or ...

. In a

grade school A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary e ...

, class presidents are generally

elect An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has operated ...

ed by the class, a constituency composed of all

student A student is a person enrolled in a school or other educational institution. In the United Kingdom and most commonwealth countries, a "student" attends a secondary school or higher (e.g., college or university); those in primary or elementa ...

s in a

grade level Educational stages are subdivisions of formal learning, typically covering early childhood education, primary education, secondary education and tertiary education. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) re ...

. The practice of electing a class president is common in many countries around the world. While a class president is similar to a student government president in certain ways, the main difference between the two positions is that a class president usually only represents a specific grade within the school while the student government president represents the school's entire student body (for which reason they are sometimes called "student ''body'' president" or "''school'' president"). Studies have shown that

co-ed Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to ...

schools are more likely to have male students as class presidents than female students.

Duties and term

The primary duties of the class president usually include working with students to resolve problems, and informing school leaders and the student council of ideas emanating from the class. The president also has the responsibility of leading class cabinet meetings and organizing student activities and events. The

term of office A term of office, electoral term, or parliamentary term is the length of time a person serves in a particular elected office. In many jurisdictions there is a defined limit on how long terms of office may be before the officeholder must be subject ...

for a class president is one year in most schools. The student holding the office usually has the option of running again for the coming year. Also, the class president in some schools is in charge of building funds for the class to use for activities, such as

prom A promenade dance, commonly called a prom, is a dance party for high school students. It may be offered in semi-formal black tie or informal suit for boys, and evening gowns for girls. This event is typically held near the end of the school y ...

. Students in this position are also often looked to as token student voice representatives.

Senior-class president

In some schools, there is a senior-class president. The senior-class president is elected by popular vote and serves as the leader of the senior class in a high school or college. They are sometimes responsible for planning some of the events surrounding

graduation Graduation is the awarding of a diploma to a student by an educational institution. It may also refer to the ceremony that is associated with it. The date of the graduation ceremony is often called graduation day. The graduation ceremony is a ...

. After graduation, the senior-class president is often put in charge of planning class reunions in the years to come. In addition, being a class president is a position wherein one needs to be responsible inside the room. A class president will also develop leadership skills considering the daily task being given to them by the teachers and other persons. Standing in this position will emboss them as a yearning individual as well as a more prominent and knowledgeable person over time. They can conduct the rules inside the class they are in and serve as the top eye of their fellow classmates to initiate an excellent environment throughout the year.

Popular culture references

The

stereotype In social psychology, a stereotype is a generalized belief about a particular category of people. It is an expectation that people might have about every person of a particular group. The type of expectation can vary; it can be, for exampl ...

of the class president has been

typecast In film, television, and theatre, typecasting is the process by which a particular actor becomes strongly identified with a specific character, one or more particular roles, or characters having the same traits or coming from the same social or ...

in books, movies and television. Typical storylines sometimes contain a

nerd A nerd is a person seen as overly intellectual, obsessive, introverted or lacking social skills. Such a person may spend inordinate amounts of time on unpopular, little known, or non-mainstream activities, which are generally either highly techn ...

underdog An underdog is a person or group in a competition, usually in sports and creative works, who is largely expected to lose. The party, team, or individual expected to win is called the favorite or top dog. In the case where an underdog wins, th ...

claiming the title from a more popular student. The stereotype has also been used as a

political Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that studi ...

allegory since the early 20th century, describing everyone from the

president of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the Federal government of the United States#Executive branch, executive branch of the Federal gove ...

to roles for

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...

women in the

U.S. Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washing ...

Fictional character In fiction, a character (or speaker, in poetry) is a person or other being in a narrative (such as a novel, Play (theatre), play, Radio series, radio or television series, music, film, or video game). The character may be entirely fictional or b ...

s in the role of class president have included: *Pedro Sánchez, played by Efren Ramirez, runs successfully for Class President in the 2004 movie ''

Napoleon Dynamite ''Napoleon Dynamite'' is a 2004 American comedy film produced by Jeremy Coon, Chris Wyatt and Sean Covel, written by Jared and Jerusha Hess and directed by Jared Hess. The film stars Jon Heder in the role of the titular character, a nerdy high- ...

''. *Zach Siler, played by

Freddie Prinze Jr. Frederick James Prinze Jr. (born March 8, 1976) is an American actor, television & film producer and screenwriter. He has starred in films such as ''I Know What You Did Last Summer'' (1997) and its sequel ''I Still Know What You Did Last Summer' ...

, is the popular jock and Class President in the 1999 film ''

She's All That ''She's All That'' is a 1999 American teen romantic comedy film directed by Robert Iscove. It stars Freddie Prinze Jr., Rachael Leigh Cook, Matthew Lillard, and Paul Walker. After being dumped by his girlfriend, Zack Siler boasts he could ...

''. *Wilford "Wil C" Cardon is the Class President in the independent film produced by DJ Iggy, titled, ''The Rise of Number 45''. *Jessie Spano, played by

Elizabeth Berkley Elizabeth Berkley (born July 28, 1974) is an American actress. She played Jessie Spano in the television series '' Saved by the Bell'' and Nomi Malone/Polly Ann Costello in the 1995 Paul Verhoeven film '' Showgirls''. She voiced the title rol ...

, is the Class President at Bayside High School in the television series ''

Saved by the Bell ''Saved by the Bell'' is an American television sitcom created by Sam Bobrick for NBC. The series premiered, in primetime, on August 20, 1989, a Sunday night. Targeted at kids and teens, ''Saved by the Bell'' was broadcast in the United States ...

''. *Ryoko Asakura in ''

The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya is a Japanese light novel series written by Nagaru Tanigawa and illustrated by Noizi Ito. It was first published in 2003 by Kadokawa Shoten in Japan with the novel ''The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya'', and has since been followed ...

''. *Tracy Flick, played by

Reese Witherspoon Laura Jeanne Reese Witherspoon (born March 22, 1976) is an American actress and producer. The recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, and two Golden Globe Awards, she ...

, runs for Class President in the 1999 film ''

Election An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has opera ...

''. *Steve Holt, played by

Justin Grant Wade Justin may refer to: People * Justin (name), including a list of persons with the given name Justin * Justin (historian), a Latin historian who lived under the Roman Empire * Justin I (c. 450–527), or ''Flavius Iustinius Augustus'', Eastern Ro ...

, is Class President of the high school that

George Michael Bluth ''Arrested Development'' is an American television sitcom that originally aired on the Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox network from November 2, 2003, to February 10, 2006. A fourth season of 15 episodes was released on Netflix on May 26, 2013. Cr ...

and

Maeby Funke '' Arrested Development'' is an American television sitcom that originally aired on the Fox network from November 2, 2003, to February 10, 2006. A fourth season of 15 episodes was released on Netflix on May 26, 2013. Created by Mitchell Hurwit ...

attend in the television series ''

Arrested Development The term "arrested development" has had multiple meanings for over 200 years. In the field of medicine, the term "arrested development" was first used, ''circa'' 1835–1836, to mean a stoppage of physical development; the term continues to be use ...

''. *Mizuki Kirimiya from the Visual Novel '' Yume Miru Kusuri''. *Courtney from ''

Total Drama Island ''Total Drama Island'' (sometimes shortened to ''TDI'') is the first season of ''Total Drama'', a Canadian animated comedy television series created by Tom McGillis and Jennifer Pertsch. The series premiered in Canada on Teletoon on July 8, 2007 ...

'' ran for class president prior to applying for the show. *In the popular manga and anime ''My Hero Academia'' there are two classes in the Hero department. Each has their own class president (called representatives). The representative of Class 1A is Tenya Iida and the representative of Class 1B is Itsuka Kendo. The vice representatives of 1A and 1B are Momo Yaoyorozu and Nirengeki Shoda respectively.

List of well-known class presidents

Jane Addams Laura Jane Addams (September 6, 1860 May 21, 1935) was an American settlement activist, reformer, social worker, sociologist, public administrator, and author. She was an important leader in the history of social work and women's suffrage i ...

* Molly Dewson *

Troy H. Middleton Lieutenant General Troy Houston Middleton (12 October 1889 – 9 October 1976) was a distinguished educator and senior officer of the United States Army who served as a corps commander in the European Theatre during World War II and later as pre ...

Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was t ...

* Ronald Reagan *

George H. W. Bush George Herbert Walker BushSince around 2000, he has been usually called George H. W. Bush, Bush Senior, Bush 41 or Bush the Elder to distinguish him from his eldest son, George W. Bush, who served as the 43rd president from 2001 to 2009; p ...

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (Birth name, né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 ...

* Joe Biden * Adam J. Niciewski''AJN: A biography.'' Squan Press. p 2003. * Oprah Winfrey

References

External links