When all her friends were packing for Europe, she was getting her vaccinations to go to Africa.

Instead of opting to go shopping in Paris, she chose to visit poverty stricken villages.

This year’s Miss Michigan was looking for a much more meaningful, life-changing experience than the typical after-college trip; to her satisfaction, she definitely got what she wished for.

Katie Lynn LaRoche came to Shores on Tuesday, April 19, to talk to students about her platform of human trafficking.

Paired with a presentation on Amnesty International’s current focus, the Girl Effect, seniors Kaitlyn Rabach and Maggie Barnard put together the assembly.

For approximately an hour, nearly 400 students sat in the auditorium, remaining impressively attentive.

           
After a brief summary on the year’s endeavors toward raising $13,000 to build a school in Cambodia, Rabach and Barnard turned it over to LaRoche to give her speech.

LaRoche said her life changed forever when she visted the Kibera slum, the largest one in Africa. Holding an emaciated little girl in her arms brought her to the realization of how incredibly lucky she was and inspired her to do something about the horrors and injustices she was witnessing.

           
The rest of the presentation consisted of interactions with the crowd and several videos to illustrate her point.

LaRoche’s platform includes addressing trafficking not only in foreign countries, but also in America. Trafficking can be targeted toward a variety of ages, from kidnapping children and putting them in armies to the forcing of women and young girls into the sex trade.

According to her videos, more than 2.2 million girls are sold into sex trade per year. The issue is not restricted to Third World countries; approximately 17,500 women/girls are trafficked into the United States per year.

The value of women in other countries is inconceivably lower than in the United States. In India, it’s cheaper to buy an 11-year-old girl for sex than it is to buy cattle.

After seeing a combination of disturbing images and statistics and listening to the speech, students realized that Miss LaRoche’s presentation really had a powerful message.

“The reason I came to speak today at Mona Shores High School is because I started this project called 83 Counties 83 Lives Challenge,” said LaRoche, who added she started the challenge as partnership with the organization “Friends of Maiti Nepal” to raise money in order to build a shelter for those removed from trafficking.

LaRouche is asking one school in each of Michigan’s 83 counties to raise one hundred dollars to save one life from the trafficking world.

Through this challenge, LaRouche is raising money for her cause and informing young adolescents of the basic facts of human trafficking.

“I loved it because it’s really important for people who don’t see that kind of stuff every day,” junior Sarah Hunt said. “It definitely rekindled the flame in me and brought back anger that I had felt about the issue before. It’s important that we don’t keep ourselves ignorant just to keep ourselves happy.”

Though her own passion is centered on human trafficking, LaRoche encouraged students to go after their own passions. She made sure to get across to the audience that all issues are equally important.

“Miss Michigan Katie Lynn LaRoche has inspired me to be a better person and to strive to change the world in anyway possible,” Rabach said. “She is such a genuine person and has accomplished so much in her young years.”

Not only the haunting images of trafficking victims and the impressive interpretive dance video left an impact on students. The connections LaRoche made and the personable quality of her speech really seemed to get through to students.

“I truly hoped her presentation had a positive effect on people. For me, it taught me to never stop working for your passion,” Barnard said.