Abstract The authors illustrate how literacy and language arts teachers work with students to help them act and engage as agents in and beyond school. The authors demonstrate how teachers design environments for learning and practice and how young people use resulting skills and motivations intentionally as a result of their experiences in those environments. With certain conditions in place, students learn to engage purposefully as leaders their communities. The authors offer examples of how teachers help students engage in literate practices, demonstrate how young people think about literacy in their lives, and celebrate how students use their learning to attain their goals beyond academic achievement. The authors conclude by noting how systematic design of engaging school spaces reflects research-based findings about literacy engagement in high school classrooms, encouraging teachers to create conditions for engagement purposefully to support all youths in all contexts for similar success.