The Road Not Taken: Understanding the Motivation of Student Leaders in their Involvement in Student Government Organizations

Abstract

Student government organizations are considered essential to a school community. They hear and address the concerns, interests, and ideas of the student body, and because of this, they are considered the voice of the students (Texas Association of Student Councils, 2019). As part of the Student Activity Program, St. Mary's College, Quezon City offers its students the opportunity to participate in one of the two student governing bodies of the institution: the Marian Student Council and the Scout Community Leaders. These governing bodies would not be possible without the students who give their time and effort to participate and involve themselves in these organizations. Thus, this research will focus on exploring and understanding the reasons behind the involvement of students in these organizations. The study utilized a qualitative research design. This research design would benefit the study as it aims to understand people from their own point of view and experience their own realities. The study will follow a phenomenological design as phenomenology studies several kinds of experiences from a subjective point of view as well as the implications and conditions of these experiences. Data will be collected through one-on-one interviews. This will permit the narration of experiences and motivations that cannot be observed. With these designs and methods, the researchers will be able to provide an in-depth analysis of the phenomena being studied. Twelve (12) student leaders are purposively sampled from the MarianStudent Council and Scout Community Leaders of St. Mary's College, Quezon City during School Year 2019-2020. In addition to these students, the moderators of each club were also interviewed for further triangulation of the data. To maintain the comprehensive nature of the research, the researchers made use of triangulation. Aside from the selected student leaders, the club moderators were also interviewed by the researchers. According to the students, they strive to be paragons of discipline, diligence, passion, and grit. They serve the school community without expecting anything in return but to inspire the community to grow as one. This is proved by the statements of the moderators vouching for the student leaders as selfless and hardworking students who excelled not only in leadership but also in academics. The student leaders' motivators differ greatly and can be defined as unique from each one. Though most of them are only motivated by one aspect of McClelland's Human Motivation Theory, there are few who are motivated by all three. This is not to say that those with only one motivator are far less effective than those who are motivated by all three aspects, but we can conclude that all of the respondents find meaning in these motivators and in the pursuit of their involvement in student government organizations.