This study intends to better understand the experiences of poor and working-class undergraduate college students who are enrolled full-time at state flagship universities and who hold on-campus leadership positions within high-intensity student organizations. This study explores how poor and working-class students come to high-intensity involvement, defined here as at least eight hours of dedicated time a week, and how they perceive the value of these experiences, particularly in the context of holding leadership positions, and what factors influence their decision to persist within their involvement experience. Nine students participated in semi-structured interviews over Zoom lasting between sixty and ninety minutes. The interviews covered a range of topics intended to explore the student's experiences of coming to find involvement, how they make decisions on how they spend their time, their motivations to persist in involvement, and how they manage competing priorities. Data from the study revealed that students find value in the experiences provided by high-intensity involvement and perceived that the skills and connections facilitated through involvement activities and networks support their post-college professional aspirations. Additionally, the data showed that early encouragement towards involvement positively impacted the student's decisions to involve themselves during college and that financial support and inclusive organizational environments were crucial towards persistence within involvement. . [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]