Leadership

Cardigan offers its students myriad opportunities to develop leadership skills in class, athletics, and extracurricular activities. These opportunities include Senior Leadership, the Student Senate, Peer Tutoring, Big Brother, and the Jobs Program, and we encourage and support various student-led initiatives on campus.

Senior Leadership

Each spring, the School elects senior leaders for the following year. Rising 8th graders have the choice of applying for senior leadership and the entire community evaluates the character and leadership potential of the candidates. The top candidates, as determined by the community, deliver brief speeches to run for school leader and assistant school leader, followed by voting from the faculty and students. The faculty meets to select the School’s other senior leaders, including floor leaders and assistants to various programs on campus, and all titled leaders are announced at the Investiture Ceremony in mid-May. Ultimately, all 9th graders are called upon to set the example for their Cardigan brothers and to lead their school.

Student Senate 

The Student Senate reviews policies that affect students’ lives, taking efforts to improve the school community for all. Although the Senate is an advisory body, there are times when their ideas help determine operating policies. The Student Senate is made up of the school leader, the assistant school leader, the elected senators from each grade level, a faculty advisor, and a faculty advisor.

Big Brother Program

This is an opportunity open to returning eighth and ninth-grade students to spend time helping new students acclimate to Cardigan. Each boy who meets the program criteria is paired with at least one new student at the year’s inception, and both informally and through scheduled social and community service events, the pair or small group forms a connection that typically proves beneficial to all involved. 

Peer Tutoring

Students have the opportunity to serve as peer tutors to their fellow Cardigan brothers. This is a flexible, peer-mediated strategy through which students receive more individualized learning, and the direct interaction between students promotes active learning.