The Issue at Hand

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Sex trafficking is a widespread problem in the United States, often facilitated through online platforms where adults exploit minors. We are STOP KC which stands for Stop Trafficking of People Kansas City and our goal is to make minors aware of responsible online usage. Predators can easily target anyone through social media or even online gaming systems. It is becoming one of the easiest ways to traffic young people. 
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The Solution

​Our solution is to create sustainable videos that The Stop Trafficking Project can use to reach a larger audience. One of the videos educates about the dangers of speaking to strangers online. This will be shown at The Stop Trafficking Project's Be Alert presentations. As teenagers, we are to able relate to the targeted population, and this gives us an advantage in getting this information to register with the students.

The second video will be sent to the parents the day before The Stop Trafficking Project's team goes to present to the schools. It serves to educate the parents about the material that would be shown to their kids, this video is broken down into the different sections of age appropriate material. 

Meet Our Team

Raegan Wesley

          Hi, I'm Raegan Wesley, a senior at Notre Dame De Sion. From a young age, I've held a strong belief in serving my community. At just nine years old, I co-founded the non-profit organization Cancel Out Cancer with five friends, raising over $60,000 for pediatric cancer. My role involved financial management, where I learned valuable skills like budget balancing and financial administration. Despite our youth, we ran the organization independently, with adults mainly assisting us with transportation to events. Through Cancel Out Cancer, we collaborated with various non-profits such as Brandon's Hope and Shadow Buddies.
         Since then, I've continued my passion for community service by volunteering with numerous organizations. This semester, I enrolled in a class focused on creating real-world impacts, aiming to address pressing issues within our community. While brainstorming topics, the issue of sex trafficking caught my attention. Despite initially knowing little about it, I felt compelled to raise awareness, especially considering Kansas City's unfortunate ranking as one of the top cities for trafficking in the U.S.
         In collaboration with the Stop Trafficking Project, my group and I have delved into the complexities of this issue. The project's mission to prevent trafficking aligns with our goal of raising awareness and educating others. Designing Real World Impacts has underscored the importance of community connections and the role of social networks in effecting change. By mobilizing a network of like-minded individuals, we can amplify our impact and work towards common goals, ultimately benefiting a greater number of people.

Imani Cutler 

          Hello, my name is Imani Cutler. I took the Designing Real World Impacts class during my senior year at Notre Dame de Sion. Traditional English classes have never been an passion of mine. But as I explored the curriculum, a spark of genuine interest ignited within me, fueled by the class's unique blend of entrepreneurship and social change, showing different perspectives of reading and writing.   The program focuses on challenging learners to obtain both entrepreneurial and professional mindset and skills through a student-created project. I'll admit, the group project aspect made me pause. Would my classmates share my interests and be willing to collaborate? As we explored potential topics – animals, environment, substance abuse, poverty – I found myself uninspired. Until, that is, I started uncovering the issues close to my heart.
​        Which leads to the topic of sex trafficking and how it is truly all around us, and not many people know how much of a problem it is. You see, I discovered a disturbing truth: only two out of nine girls in my class knew that sex trafficking was a pressing problem in our community. That revelation shook me. How could something so pervasive and devastating be happening in our community? Realizing this secured what I wanted to do to make a sustainable impact. We are STOP KC, standing for Stop Trafficking of People Kansas City. We have thought long and hard about how we could make a sustainable impact with such a difficult problem. After various partnerships with the community we quickly learned that it is about helping to put a stop towards sex trafficking before it starts. My hope is for this class to lead to a better society all around. Students that go through this class do not only make a sustainable project but also make sustainable changes to their daily lives for the betterment of society, and I am proud to say that I am now one of those students.

Maya hernandez

           Hello, my name is Maya Hernández. I took the Designing Real World Impacts class my senior year of high school. This class was super important for me to take because it allows students to create a growth mindset on problems that our world faces today.
            This class has prepared me for life outside of high school. Connecting with a variety of business people and entrepreneurs has been so helpful. It has allowed me to feel confident in how I portray myself to important people, develop team working skills, and create a solution to a real world problem.
             My team and I decided to focus on the topic of sex trafficking. This is a big issue in Kansas City and its surrounding areas. In doing research we realized that there is a lack of education over safe online practices and that there is a common misconception that sex trafficking is the transportation of people.This is one of the ways that predators can easily access victims. 
 Personally this has always been an issue that I am passionate about, from seeing kids in middle school talking to guys that are 23 years old to hearing about areas near me that have been shut down for sex trafficking. It is everywhere. The only way we can combat this is by educating the future generations, which is what we implemented in our solution. We hope our message would make an impact on the students. Our approach was to them as equals for them to understand what is going on. 
            I never thought that being a teenager I could accomplish so much. I’m so grateful for the opportunity to work so closely with my teammates and our partner to make change.