In February I had the pleasure of meeting with a group of poetry students and their coach from Boca Raton Community High School. They were preparing for a poetry slam competition and they wanted to do their group piece on human trafficking. I was asked to meet with them, talk to them about human trafficking and share my experience with them. The purpose of doing this was so they could get a better understanding of human trafficking and have the perspective of a person who has experienced it firsthand.
These students could have just read about human trafficking on the internet to get ideas for their piece, but they decided if they were going to do this they were going to learn all they could so that it would be accurate and impactful.
Poetry was a very instrumental part of my therapy and healing process, so I loved that these students were going to use poetry to spread awareness of human trafficking. When I found out that the Louder Than a Bomb Competition was going to be on a Saturday I decided I wanted to be there to show these students how much them raising awareness means to me.
In April drove almost 4 hours down to Nova Southeastern University to hear a 3-minute poem… but more importantly, to be there to support these students and I’m so glad I did. I couldn’t have been prouder of the work they put into the poem. I was honored they chose to include part of my experience/story in their poem.
These students are not stopping with spreading awareness in Florida...they are taking it as far as they can. Next week they will be traveling to Las Vegas to take part in the Brave New Voices Competition and will be performing in front of 500 youth poets from all over the world.
Thank you Boca Raton Community High School Poets for using your voice and platform to bring awareness to the reality of human trafficking.