Human trafficking may not be at the forefront of most people’s minds, but the Dallas area is not immune to the issue and on Wednesday, UNICEF hosted a speaker after school to talk about the prevalence of the problem.

“This is my first time at the school and I’ve heard so much about the club from both our local and national team about what’s going on here in Frisco and at Liberty,” Dallas UNICEF USA Community Engagement Fellow Lily  Espinoza said. “So I was really excited to come to a group that was ready to take action and is really plugged into UNICEF and who really care about the mission of UNICEF.”

For club vice president Caitlin Montgomery, the event was an opportunity to bring awareness to the problem.

“It was really informative,” Montgomery said. “I’m so glad I got the chance to come and learn about all the different things. I’ve heard about some human trafficking things before because I’m familiar with UNICEF. But it’s always good to your memory and get more information about these things. Because contrary to popular belief, things like human trafficking do happen around us. And in areas like Frisco, even though we may not notice it. I think it’s good for everyone to have an understanding of some of the events happening around them, not just to be aware of it, but also be able to advocate about it and go out into the community and voice your opinion so that for instance, can happen and people and children become a little bit more safer.”

Espinoza hopes those who came will feel empowered to take action.

“I hope students walk away inspired and feeling like they are empowered to make a difference not only here in our own backyard, but also across the world because they are not just citizens here in Texas, and in Frisco and United States, but they’re also citizens of the world and their global citizens. And so I think equipping them with the knowledge of what’s going on for kids just like them across the world is so empowering and I hope that they feel inspired and they can do something about it.