Fil-Am student cited for anti-trafficking project

Manila, Philippines - Fil-Am Andrea Mendoza and teammate Ariana Taveras from the Benedictine Academy of New Jersey were honored in the Jefferson Awards for Public Service and Volunteerism Student In Action program for their anti-human trafficking campaign.

This group of young girls from the Benedictine Academy, supervised by their teacher Linda Malchiski, spearheaded a campaign against human trafficking which generated high public awareness and media impact in the US, with big media organizations like CNN coming in as partners to help promote the program that aimed to stop child labor by major manufacturing companies and other forms of modern-day slavery.

Mendoza’s project also created a global network of anti-human trafficking (AHT) champions which included key groups from the Philippines with the help of Jefferson Awards’ Goodwill Ambassador Jan Chavez-Arceo. Prior to the actual awarding ceremonies in the National Museum last June 21, Arceo, Mendoza and Taveras spoke before US senators on Capitol Hill to report on the gains of the campaign.

In her speech, Mendoza said, “We went from being a small school with a caring heart to being global leaders of change. The Students In Action program has empowered us to reach out to the media, to government, and to major organizations. It has taught us not only to dream big, but to also to become activists for social change on both the local and global levels.”

Arceo, who is also the Ninoy and Cory Aquino People Power People program director in the Philippines, was instrumental in helping the Benedictine Academy team? establish a global network of people and organizations to scale up?efforts in creating awareness for the campaign and exchange key learnings and experiences in the fight against modern-day slavery.??

This network created an interaction and exchange among the groups and individuals through new media, inspired several other related initiatives in the Philippines such as the passing of the National Youth Commission, a resolution to be actively part of the Department of Justice-Inter Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT).

Mendoza is an incoming senior high school student of the Benedictine Academy in New Jersey. She was born in the Philippines and her family is from Manadaluyong City. They migrated to the US when she was six years old. Teammate Taveras is from the Dominican Republic.

The Jefferson Awards for Public Service and Volunteerism was founded 38 years ago by the late Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, former US Sen. Robert Taft and philanthropist Sam Beard.