Will Beckerman

Will Beckerman (he/him), a 2021 graduate of the School Without Walls and co-president of its Gender and Sexuality Alliance for three years, found that his most important connection to leadership there was listening to and growing from those around him. Will worked with the Walls GSA to research what students already knew about the LGBTQ community, and what knowledge the GSA could bring to the community. Over the next year, Will is working for AmeriCorps in the DC Literacy Lab, which aims to close the literacy gap between the District’s youth. Following his work with AmeriCorps, Will is headed to Middlebury College in Vermont. Will represents the passion that YLA recipients bring to their communities, and thinks that young leadership is important because we need to claim our futures and make them what we envision. Will’s advice to young queer leaders is that “you’re never too young to make a change, and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.”

English