[KenWittlief]

In a literal sense a leader is a person who takes a group from one place to another. The primary requirements are:

1. He has to know the way and
2. He has to be able to show the way to others.

this may sound over simplified, but we tend to forget this. We think a team must have a leader, a ship must have a captain, an orchestra must have a conductor, so we just pick someone to fill that position.

Leadership is a task, its a learned skill. Professionals get training in project leadership, program leadership, department leadership... There is no reason to think that just because someone has been on a team for a given length of time that they will automatically be a good leader.

Some people are good at doing things but are not good at explaining those things to others.

I think the most important thing for your team is that, whoever ends up being your student leader that person is going to need support, training and guidance from professionals who have leadership experience.

You would not expect a student to figure out how to be an engineer all by themselves. The same goes for becoming a team leader.