Cameron Kasper, Junior
Westfield High School
2022-2023

Cameron Kasper is motivated to promote peace by a desire to protect young people and to share experiences with others. They successfully organized a peaceful walkout at Westfield High School to protest Governor Youngkin’s recent Model Policies update on treatment of transgender students in Virginia schools. More than 100 WHS students participated in the protest. The event was advertised through flyers and word of mouth, and Cameron also used a Discord server to communicate and update the protest information.

The main goal of the protest was to show the governor and the Virginia Department Education that these policies are something that students neither want nor need, and that prejudice against marginalized groups has no place in Virginia. Cameron said, “On the day of the walkout, Westfield, along with nearly 100 other schools in the state, chose to stand against bigotry and discrimination in order to protect students’ rights and identities. Since then, the vote for the Model Policies implementation has been pushed back and its proposed guidelines have been heavily criticized for their blatant biases.”

Cameron also co-leads the Virginia Chapter of the Team ENOUGH Youth-Led Lobbying Collective. This group lobbies for laws to help reduce gun violence. They train others in lobbying techniques and attend in-person lobbying events and efforts.

Cameron also joined rallies that promote protection of queer youth and students with the Pride Liberation Project.