15 Virtual Leadership Activities for Middle School Students

In middle school, leadership is not limited to student council membership and titles; leadership covers all the opportunities that allow you to step up, take initiative, collaborate with others, and solve problems creatively. To develop these key leadership skills, you can get started today by engaging in virtual leadership opportunities! 

Virtual leadership activities are a flexible, low-cost way to identify your leadership style and experience offering support, guidance, and direction to individuals or teams. This means you don’t need to wait for a formal opportunity that assigns you a leadership position! You can just begin taking up activities like mentoring peers, organizing digital projects, or managing remote teams. All you need is a computer and an internet connection. 

What are virtual leadership activities for middle school students?

Virtual leadership activities are online challenges, games, collaborations, and initiatives designed to help you develop core leadership traits—responsibility, empathy, communication, initiative, and teamwork. These activities go beyond academic tasks, helping you take ownership, think critically, and make real-world decisions with peers in a digital space.

Unlike regular academic or learning programs, these activities focus on action-based experiences that help you become a better leader.

Here we have compiled a list of 15 virtual leadership activities for middle school students. We have focused on creative, skill-building activities that you can easily engage in, whether you’re a beginner or someone with prior leadership experience.

1. Engage in virtual peer mentoring

To set this activity up, you can choose a video chat platform and find peers looking for some academic or co-curricular mentorship. You can meet regularly with them to offer guidance on academic or personal challenges. As a mentor, you will learn how to actively listen, offer supportive feedback, and track learners’ progress over time. This activity can be a great way to practice empathy, patience, responsibility, consistency, and a service-based leadership mindset.

Materials/Investment required: Google Meet or Zoom and a digital calendar

Suitable for: Beginners

2. Organize a digital fundraiser

Take charge of a virtual fundraising campaign for a cause you believe in by setting goals, creating digital materials, and promoting your campaign online. This virtual leadership activity can help you develop project management and persuasive communication skills and learn how to lead others to meet a shared goal. This activity can also help you build initiative, strategic thinking, confidence, as well as an understanding of social impact and financial responsibility. Use platforms like GoFundMe or DonorsChoose to lead a virtual fundraising campaign. You'll manage outreach, budgeting, and digital promotion.

Materials/Investment required: Free fundraising platform like Canva or Google Slides

Suitable for: Students with strong writing, marketing, and/or graphic design skills

3. Lead a virtual book club

To get started with this activity, choose a theme for your book club, select the books to be read, and guide weekly online group discussions. As the leader, you will facilitate conversations, assign roles, and encourage participation, helping everyone share their reading experiences and perspectives. This activity can help you work on communication and collaboration skills and offer you some insight into group dynamics and how to manage them. This initiative can also help you build inclusivity and the ability to lead through shared learning.

Materials/Investment required: Google Meet or other interaction-based platform, shared reading material, and Goodreads or other book rating platform (optional)

Suitable for: Beginners; students who enjoy reading and discussion; 

4. Create a virtual newsletter

If interested in creative decision-making and content, you can organize and publish a regular digital newsletter! Here, you will curate content, edit submissions, and design layouts. As the leader, you will also coordinate with contributors, set deadlines and ensure everyone meets them, as well as maintain a consistent tone and vision. In the process, you will get to develop written communication skills, attention to detail, editorial leadership, accountability, and decision-making under deadlines.

Materials/Investment required: Canva or Google Slides + an email platform

Suitable for: Students with writing or design skills

5. Run a virtual debate club

Set up your own debate club and facilitate structured debate matchups, come up with topics, and act as a moderator or team leader. Along the way, you will get to improve your public speaking, critical thinking, and the ability to guide respectful dialogue. Leading a debate club also requires assertiveness, composure under pressure, and clarity of thought—abilities that you will get to refine with practice. As the leader of the club, you will gain first-hand insights into the importance of fairness and informed decision-making.

Materials/Investment required: Zoom or Google Meet + Google Docs for prep

Suitable for: Middle schoolers with some debate experience

6. Start a digital community project

Identify a challenge in your school or community and organize a team to research and address it virtually. For this activity, you will need to assign roles, plan timelines, and present your solution digitally, developing innovation, initiative, and the ability to coordinate across roles. The experience can also help you develop a sense of purpose and learn how to lead through action.

Materials/Investment required: Project management tool (Trello, Google Sheets, etc.), internet accessSuitable for: Students with some experience working on a community service project

7. Host an online workshop

Design and deliver a virtual workshop covering the basics of any skill or topic of choice, from painting to Python coding. While organizing and conducting the workshop, you’ll learn how to structure content, engage an audience, and explain concepts clearly. This can strengthen your leadership abilities, instructional communication skills, and confidence. You will also get some experience organizing events. 

Materials/Investment required: Zoom or YouTube Live

Suitable for: Students with specialized skills and interest in public speaking

8. Moderate a virtual student forum

Facilitate an online discussion space where students get to share opinions about school policies, community concerns, or social topics. As a moderator, you will set agendas, keep conversations on track, and ensure all voices are heard. This activity can help you learn how to exercise neutrality, empathy, and consensus-building. It will also help you become a fair and thoughtful leader in group settings.

Materials/Investment required: Google Meet, agenda in Google Docs

Suitable for: Beginners interested in civic leadership

9. Lead a group research project

Assign roles, coordinate timelines, and guide your group to complete a shared presentation using a virtual tool like Google Slides. This can help you build initiative, leadership skills, task delegation abilities, and time management. If you are looking to dive deeper into academic leadership, consider structured programs like the Lumiere Junior Explorer Program (JEP). JEP pairs you with mentors from top universities, such as Harvard, MIT, Yale, etc., to explore academic interests and work on projects in a fully virtual, rigorous environment. Multiple cohorts are available throughout the year, and you can also access need-based financial aid to support your participation.

Materials/Investment required: Google Slides, Google Docs, internet

Suitable for: Students with an interest in academic leadership

10. Launch a digital campaign

Develop an online campaign that focuses on a social or environmental issue, using visuals, storytelling, and an effective outreach strategy. In the process, you will learn about creative messaging, aligning your actions with goals, leading through advocacy and with purpose, and mobilizing peer support. This activity can also help you build digital literacy and brand communication skills.

Materials/Investment required: Canva, Instagram, and/or Google Sites

Suitable for: Creative, tech-savvy students

11. Organize a virtual talent show

To set up a talent show, you will need to coordinate performers, design the program, and make arrangements to hold the live or recorded event online. You will manage logistics, communicate with participants, and handle event promotion. This activity can help you get some insight into event planning, teamwork, and creative problem-solving. Here, you will get to lead by uplifting others and managing behind-the-scenes aspects of conducting a public event.

Materials/Investment required: Zoom, Google Forms, and (optional) YouTube

Suitable for: Students with an interest in event planning and performance arts

12. Run a remote hackathon or idea lab

Host a time-bound challenge where teams get to brainstorm and prototype solutions to address real-world problems. As the organizer, you will design the structure, judge submissions, and offer support. This activity can help you refine your organizational, problem-solving, and time-bound decision-making skills. It will also help build creativity, systems thinking approach, and leadership skills in high-energy environments. 

Materials/Investment required: Zoom, Slack, or Discord + Google Docs

Suitable for: Tech-savvy students interested in STEM

13. Host virtual office hours

Offer weekly sessions where peers can drop in for tutoring, brainstorming, or studying assistance. Over time, this activity will help you build consistency, dependability, and approachability, create a supportive community space, and learn how to guide without serving all the answers. In the process, you will get insights into the practice of leadership through service, empathy, and subject expertise. 

Materials/Investment required: Google Meet or Zoom

Suitable for: Students with a strong academic background/subject matter knowledge 

14. Design an online course or workshop series

Plan a series of connected online sessions, for instance, a four-week coding course or college prep seminar series. To offer this resource, you will develop the curriculum, communicate with attendees, and reflect on feedback between sessions. This activity can help you develop planning skills, consistency, and the ability to engage the audience. The experience will demonstrate initiative and long-term leadership commitment. 

Materials/Investment required: Zoom, Canva, Google Slides, optional Eventbrite

Suitable for: Students with specific subject matter knowledge or skill set

15. Start a virtual leadership journal

Set up and maintain a digital journal where you track leadership experiences, reflect on challenges, and set goals. By writing regularly, you will improve self-awareness and learn from your successes and setbacks. This activity can help you develop metacognition and responsibility as you work toward personal growth and building long-term leadership habits. You can choose to keep the journal private or work with peers on a shared platform to allow collaboration and collective growth.

Materials/Investment required: Google Docs, optional online templatesSuitable for: Beginners/students interested in writing, journaling, and tracking their activities

One more option—The Lumiere Junior Explorer Program

The Lumiere Junior Explorer Program is a program for middle school students to work one-on-one with a mentor to explore their academic interests and build a project they are passionate about. Our mentors are scholars from top research universities such as Harvard, MIT, Stanford, Yale, Duke, and LSE.

The program was founded by a Harvard & Oxford PhD who met as undergraduates at Harvard. The program is rigorous and fully virtual. We offer need-based financial aid for students who qualify. You can find the application in the brochure! To learn more, you can reach out to our Head of Partnerships, Maya, at maya.novak-herzog@lumiere.education or go to our website.

Multiple rolling deadlines for JEP cohorts across the year, you can apply using this application link! If you'd like to take a look at the upcoming cohorts + deadlines, you can refer to this page!

Stephen is one of the founders of Lumiere and a Harvard College graduate. He founded Lumiere as a Ph.D. student at Harvard Business School. Lumiere is a selective research program where students work 1-1 with a research mentor to develop an independent research paper.

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