WAPAKONETA, OH (WLIO) - When a Wapakoneta student heard about the hardships of victims of human trafficking, she didn't just ignore it. Tonight's Jefferson Award winner took action to raise awareness. Nathan Kitchens tells us how she is rallying her fellow students to help.
"If we are able to have an impact on just a single person's life, all of us are influencers in some way," says Kyleigh Engle, 2023 Youth Jefferson Award Winner. "And you may not know who you are impacting or in what way you will impact them."
You can see the impact that 2023 youth Jefferson award winner Kyleigh Engle is making with her fellow Wapakoneta students. She started the Students Against Human Trafficking club at the school. That passion started as a freshman when she visited a conference where they recreated the conditions that labor human trafficking victims faced and heard testimonials of sex trafficking victims.
"At the end of all of this, I read a quote that said, 'You may choose to turn away, but never again can you say you did not know.' That is the most impactful quote that I have ever heard in my life and I will live my life by that quote. Because for me I did not want to turn away."
The Foster Youth Institute recently estimated that 60% of child sex trafficking victims have been in the foster care system, so Engle and other club members are finding ways to support the foster families.
"We have been able to partner with children services, through donation drives, and as well as for Christmas. We did a Christmas shop with them," adds Engle. "As we walked around with foster families and took them shopping."
"Kyleigh is hands down one of the greatest students that I have ever met," says Cori Fields, who nominated Engle. "She just loves people. She is just a light in the classroom, she is a light to her peers, and she is a light to this community and the world. She is not just making an impact here, she is making an impact globally."
"It has just been the impact that I have been able to see with my own mom, she is actually the director of Children Services. So, I have seen the impact that she has had on children's lives. So, it's just inspired me to want to have a similar impact in my community. Also, just my dad has grown up telling me to go and be a leader. Every time I would get out of the car, he would always say that. So, that's what really impacted me to give back to our community and have an impact on my school while I am here."
That was Kyleigh Engle, one of your Jefferson award winners.
