Extracurricular activities have long held roles of importance in independent school life. However, schools often assign teachers to oversee extracurricular activities as an afterthought and provide limited resources for extracurricular programs. This paper considers the integral role of activities in independent schools and presents theories of leadership as they apply to students and adults in independent school culture. The paper offers an overview of the history of extracurricular activities in high schools, and then discusses the findings of interviews conducted with five student-council presidents at five day schools regarding the effect of school culture on student participation and leadership. The following recommendations are made for private schools that want to encourage student involvement: (1) examine the school culture; (2) provide student councils with substantive issues to tackle; and (3) specifically address leadership issues. (Contains 59 references.) (LMI)