Llano student tackles tough topic as she preps for national competition

DANIEL CLIFTON • PICAYUNE STAFF

LLANO — For Llano High School freshman Sydney Kuehne, the topic and format her teacher Deidre Henderson picked for her for the Family, Career and Community Leaders of America competition just didn’t seem to fit.

Kuehne found herself having to create an illustrated talk (a speech with visual aides) on sex trafficking.

“Yeah, not exactly something I knew anything about,” Kuehne said.

And the competition required her to give a speech on the topic, which isn’t really a strong suit of hers since she doesn’t like talking in front of groups of people.

Still, Kuehne tackled the topic and began laying the groundwork for her illustrated talk earlier this year. While the initial “fitting” felt a bit unnatural, it didn’t take long for Kuehne to embrace the format and delve in. Now, the freshman will represent Llano High School at the FCCLA National Leadership Conference on July 3-9 in Washington, D.C.

“I’m pretty excited,” Kuehne said. “I really didn’t expect to make it to nationals when I started.”

The topic of sex trafficking turned out to be more interesting and more local than she anticipated. As Kuehne began looking into the subject, she learned startling facts about the practice. For one, she pointed out, the United States is one of the leading countries when it comes to this terrible practice, and Texas ranks among the top states for trafficking.

Kuehne said she learned of a van that law enforcement stopped in Central Texas. When officers opened it up, they found 48 girls inside — all victims of sex trafficking.

“It kind of hit home,” she said.

The FCCLA contest set certain requirements for the illustrated talk. She just couldn’t research the subject and show up at the region and state contests. First, Kuehne had to give a talk to three local groups. She chose the Llano County Child Welfare Board, Women in Education and the Llano High School Student Council. She also gave a talk on the subject to the Women’s Ministry at First Baptist Church of Llano.

Kuehne admitted her topic isn’t the easiest to talk about with people, but it’s one that people need to know about and how they can help.

But as she began to learn more about this devastating practice, Kuehne took a more active role in trying to curb it.

“She’s done a lot of research, but the biggest thing is she’s participated in events and really took an interest in what she can do,” Henderson said. “It’s important to share the information, but she’s also doing something about it. She’s making a difference in the community.”

Kuehne participated in the Share the Love 5K, which raised money for a home to help sex trafficking victims; attended a gala fundraiser for one of the groups working to stop sex trafficking; and attended the “Voices of Innocence” event that also helped raise money to stop sex trafficking and assist victims.

Her efforts also looked at what she could do locally. After giving her talk to the student council, they began helping her with ideas to implement in the community. One Kuehne pursued was organizing a self-defense program for upperclassmen in May.

“She’s really taken this project seriously,” Henderson said. “It’s pretty incredible that here she’s a freshman, but she’s really making an impact in the community.”

During the illustrated talk at the Region 5 conference in Corpus Christi, Kuehne presented her topic but also outlined what she had done up to that point as far as talking with groups and participating in events. In April at the state FCCLA meet in Corpus Christi, Kuehne added in the more recent activities and information.

“So the (talk) changes each time,” she said. Though it’s still not easy, Kuehne said she’s getting better at giving the talks. And she’s glad she’s overcome the apprehension of speaking in front of groups.

“What good is having this information but not doing something with it?” she asked. “People need to know about it and how they can help.”

And when she gets to nationals in July, Kuehne will reach an entirely new audience.

daniel@thepicayune.com