Southwestern College is teaming up with The Center for Combating Human Trafficking to kick off Homecoming week with a unique service project this year.  The fourth annual Homecoming service project is titled “Courage to Use Your Voice.”  The event will begin at 4:30 p.m., on Sunday, Sept. 28, in the Richardson Performing Arts Center.  There is no admission charge to attend.

Instead of providing manual labor to serve the community, students will practice using their voices to advocate for change.  The event will feature a guest lecture from Karen Countryman-Roswurm, Ph. D.  She is an assistant professor of social work at Wichita State University and speaks both nationally and internationally on the topics of homeless youth and sexual exploitation/human trafficking.  

Following the 30-minute presentation by Countryman-Roswurm, students will be given 45 minutes to advocate for action on the issue in whatever creative format they choose.  Advocacy efforts will be documented and compiled via video (SC students majoring in communication) and photos (SC Instagram #BuildersInService).  Sample advocacy ideas and resources (including recent legislation) can be found at this website: http://sckans.edu/activities/service-learning/homecoming-service-project.

A host of community partners will be in attendance at the event to help the students with their advocacy work, including House of Representatives member Ed Trimmer, as well as staff from the following organizations: Raise My Head Foundation (Wichita), Safe Homes, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Cowley County, and the Center for Combating Human Trafficking (Wichita).  

This issue is particularly salient because recent statistics indicate that Wichita ranks in the top five cities as a human trafficking originating city.  This means that children are picked up in Wichita and trafficked to other areas in our nation for forced labor and sexual exploitation.  

The Center for Human Trafficking serves as a non-partisan think tank and resource bank for students, multi-disciplinary professionals, concerned community members, and faith congregations. With their partners, the center works to assist in preventing, assessing, identifying, evaluating, and intervening in cases of human trafficking.

A total of 50 seats will be reserved for the general public at this event and can be accessed on a first-come, first-serve basis.  
Lindsay Wilke, assistant director of Leadership Southwestern invites SC students and community members to come learn more about the issue of domestic human trafficking taking place in the state of Kansas and discover actions that can be taken to help combat it.

“I am excited that Southwestern students will have the opportunity to participate in a different kind of service on an issue that is meaningful to many of them,” Wilke says.  “Educating oneself about an important and complex issue and figuring out how to do something about it is just as much of a service to the community as painting a house or picking up trash.  I cannot wait to see students’ creativity in action, and I hope this will further empower our students to continue making positive changes in the community.”

Southwestern College organizations that are working on this project are from the service learning teams, athletics, performing arts, student life, and the communication department.

For more information about the event, contact Wilke at (620) 229-6393.