Free State High School senior La’Ron Williams has won second place in the 2024 Boys & Girls Club Kansas Youth of the Year competition.
Williams credits his parents, Contessa Woodson and Jermell Taylor, as his support system, according to a Boys & Girls Club of Lawrence news release. Along with his parents, Williams’ younger brother, mentors and friends were present at a ceremony on Tuesday in Topeka to see him named runner-up.
“I’m very grateful,” Williams said in the release. “As a Black kid in Lawrence, sometimes you don’t really see that as much, and so I’m just very grateful that they’ve been there for me through this entire journey – through Minnesota, Virginia, and now here in Kansas, they’ve been with me every step and I thank them for that.”
Williams was named the 2024 Lawrence Youth of the Year during a ceremony on Jan. 25. He and two other candidates gave speeches about the growth they’ve experienced as part of BGC, which hosts the local, state, regional and national Youth of the Year competitions.
In a speech he gave Tuesday, Williams discussed facing a crossroad in life — that’s graduating high school and moving more beyond his comfort zone to the next phase, according to the release. He said his BGC experiences, including an internship he held this past summer working for the club’s sports and recreation department, have helped prepare him.
As a member of BGC’s Center for Great Futures for four years, La’Ron has been a leader in several activities, such as the Ball 4 All basketball league and Keystone Club. With plans to major in journalism in college, Williams aspires to become a writer or public speaker.
Writing, he said, was the most enjoyable part of his Youth of the Year experience.
“My favorite part was the essays, one hundred percent,” Williams said in the release. “Talking to the crowd too, of course, I enjoyed that thoroughly, but I really did enjoy the essays. I just like writing in general.”
Seven candidates — five traditional students and two military students — spent Tuesday together getting to know one another. They presented their speeches, interviewed with a panel of judges and toured the Brown v. Board of Education National Historical Park before proceeding to the Townsite Tower for the evening’s ceremony.
When Williams arrived back to Lawrence afterward, he went to the Center for Great Futures, where his BGC friends were waiting outside with celebrations, according to the release.
In addition to the competition day, Williams and his fellow candidates on Wednesday attended the Kansas State Capitol for Legislative Day. Each candidate took meetings with their local and state elected officials about the vitality of Boys & Girls Club and afterschool programs in Kansas.
The 2024 Kansas Youth of the Year winner, Boys & Girls Club of Hutchinson member Zion Burgess, will represent the state as he advances to the Southwest Region Youth of the Year competition.
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Maya Hodison (she/her), equity reporter, can be reached at mhodison@lawrencekstimes.com. Read more of her work for the Times here. Check out her staff bio here.
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