Rockville High Students Get a Lesson in 21st Century Slavery

The phrase, “not in my backyard,” can be applied to a number of things.  Human trafficking is one. 

“It’s illegal everywhere, but unfortunately, it happens everywhere,” said Lamont Hiebert, co-founder of Love 146.

Love 146, an international organization that’s sole purpose is to end child slavery and sexual exploitation through abolition and restoration. Hiebert and Nicole Von-Oy came to Rockville High School Wednesday morning to educate and spread awareness of human sex trafficking. 

The program was the creation of School Resource Officer Early Middleton with the help of Vernon Police Det. Donald Skewes. Middleton said the problem hit home when he discovered two local girls he suspected to be at-risk were involved.

Two presentations were given by Love 146 representatives. The school day started with the assembly for freshmen and sophomores, and by 9:30 AM juniors and seniors got their turn.    

Von-Oy asked the RHS underclassmen if they’d ever heard of human trafficking. By a raise of hands, most of the students acknowledged that yes, they had. Von-Oy asked a couple of those students how they heard of it. 

“In New York,” one responded.

“The movies,” another said.

Hiebert told the students sitting inside Rockville High’s auditorium that what they were talking about is modern day slavery.

“Human trafficking is simply the buying and selling of people for profit,” he said.

He gave them these numbers to compare:

• Historically, 13 million slaves were sold out of Africa over a 300-year period. 

• Now, there are 27 million slaves around the world. 

Hiebert said slaves are still used today to harvest things like chocolate, cotton and coffee, and the sex trade industry could pass the drug trade within the next 10 years. 

To put the numbers in perspective for the groups of students, Hiebert reiterated a stat that was given in a short video he played. Every minute, two children are trafficked. 

He said, “That’s 120 children during this presentation.” 

The math would equal roughly 240 children trafficked between both presentations. 

Von-Oy discussed more local human trafficking issues with Rockville students.  She explained that Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children, or CSEC, includes prostitution, stripping and pornography. Von-Oy focused this aspect of the presentation heavily on internet use. 

“How many of your Facebook profiles are set to private?” Von-Oy asked with little response, especially from the junior and senior group. 

“The internet is like the new ‘streets,’” she said, and then she compared having an open Facebook profile to Christmas shopping in a J.C. Penny catalogue.  She said people can just flip through and pick out what they want. 

Von-Oy said the whole idea of “not in my backyard” doesn’t apply to the United States. In fact, she told students Wednesday morning that around 100,000 U.S. children are sold every year in the states. She called the U.S. a “destination country” for trafficking, meaning more people are trafficked into the U.S. It’s also a hot spot for “sex tourism,” or a place to vacation and have sex with sex-slaves. 

The Love 146 presentation included a slide about Connecticut statistics.  Connecticut is considered a “stopover location” since it’s between Boston and New York City.  Von-Oy told students human trafficking does happen here. On Wednesday morning during the assembly, students learned that human trafficking not only happens in Connecticut, but it affected two former female Rockville High students. 

Then came the warning. Von-Oy told students that pimps, people who sell or exploit others, “know exactly where you guys hang out.”  She said malls, movie theaters, all-age night clubs and even middle school basketball games are places individuals are targeted. 

Risk factors for being targeted include low self-esteem, low self-worth, a fractured family life, a distorted image of what pimps really are due to media glorification, and a desire for a better life. 

Even with the heavily emotional material presented to students, Von-Oy and Hiebert told hopeful stories of survivors. 

“I’m sure all of you have dreams for when you grow up, right?”  Hiebert said. He continued about how many victims of human trafficking lose the ability to dream for their futures. He told a story about one girl whose dream was to one day turn 18 years old.

“We celebrated her 18th birthday,” Hiebert said. 

The assembly ended for both under and upper classmen the same way. How you can help.  Hiebert told students to learn more about human trafficking and CSEC, or the Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children, and to create more awareness. He also told students to start a task force with Love 146.  Finally, he urged them to report anything if they see something wrong. 

Students said the assembly was eye-opening and interesting. 

Two students who attended the junior/senior assembly said the presentation “hits close to home” after learning about the two girls who were involved in human trafficking from RHS. 

One said, “It’s not close to home enough for people to want to make a difference about it.” 

He compared it to cancer awareness. Until someone you love has cancer, he says, you’re not out raising money or looking for a cure. For one student, human trafficking might be the same. 

One student said Love 146 representatives should have pushed the hotline number on the students. 

“Just put the number in your phone.  You have like 300 people in the auditorium, that’s 300 people who are living lives and who are going to go out and who are going to see stuff,”  he said.

Compared to other types of assemblies, both boys agreed that this was a much more shocking topic. 

“It’s a lot more serious, and it’s going to have a bigger effect,” another student said.

“No one wants to get trafficked,” he said. 

Michelle Correia, 15, and Shayla Schoeneberger, 15, both sophomores at RHS, stopped after their assembly to reflect about what they’d just learned. 

“It can happen anywhere, anytime,” Schoeneberger said.  “It could be anyone in this room.”

“There’s always these presentations about drugs and alcohol, but this was a lot different,” Correia said. 

“I’m pretty sure I had no clue this was happening,” Schoeneberger said.  Both girls said they were interested in learning more about human trafficking, and they’ll be going online to start. 

Rockville High School is holding a training day for faculty and staff Thursday with Love 146 and the Vernon Police Department.  The two-day program to educate and spread awareness of human sex trafficking was sponsored by Rockville High School, Vernon Youth Services, the Vernon Police Department, and the Tolland County Multidisciplinary Investigation Team, which is funded by DCF.   

Love 146 will be providing more in-depth education on human trafficking for RHS students during the spring.