This year, Peace and Justice week was focused on the issue of Human Trafficking. Global Justice Coalition prepared a week of activities relating to Human Trafficking that ended with the assembly on Thursday, March 19.

On Monday, the week started with a prayer led by Helen Johnson ’16, co-leader of GJC. She informed the school of the topic, and introduced the plan for the week. On Tuesday, Greta Tobin ’16 led morning prayer and a documentary was shown in the theater during Lit Study called “A Path Appears”. The documentary focussed on sex trafficking and ways that young girls get involved in the trade. The end to this powerful movie was shown during lunch, and gave everyone who watched more information and insights into the world of sex trafficking.

Wednesday morning, a prayer service was held in the Chapel before school. Students who were not using their late start to sleep in gathered to listen to a prayer service that was prepared by an organization for Human Trafficking and read by members of Global Justice.    It featured real stories of people who had been trafficked and expressed the hope that one day Human Trafficking would be completely stopped. Anna Ferron ’16 led morning prayer later that day. She answered a thought provoking question that many people have had when it comes to trying to solve world issues. She asked Seattle Prep what the point of learning about and trying to stop Human Trafficking was. Ferron pointed out that it is such a huge problem, and it seems futile to even try. She then responded to her question, by saying that if no one tries nothing will be achieved. Even if Human Trafficking will not be stopped by high school students, a difference can still be made.

Thursday was the Peace and Justice Assembly. Maren Kilmer ’18 led morning prayer, and the whole school gathered in the gym before lunch. At the assembly, Peter Qualliotine, founder of the Organization for Prostitution Survivors (OPS) based in Seattle, spoke about the problem of sex trafficking and how he has attempting to solve it. He focused on men’s accountability in stopping violence against the women, children, and sometimes men forced into selling themselves for sex. The next guest speaker, Sophia Sanders, is the Director of Programs and operations at StolenYouth, which is also an organization based in Seattle. Sanders spoke about StolenYouth’s campaign, #NotOnOurWatch and about things that Prep students could do to help stop Human Trafficking. Greta Tobin ’16 and Helen Johnson ’16 explained the issue, and Anna Ferron ’16 explained ways that Prep students could become more responsible in their actions to combat trafficking. Ferron mentioned a website that calculated the number of slaves that work for a person based on their product choices called Slavery Footprint. The Peace and Justice Assembly and week was a great success, and informed Prep students on the issue of Human Trafficking and ways that they as students can help solve the problem.