03/11/2026
Hillsborough students gather to learn, spread word about human trafficking
BY DIVYA KUMAR
Times Staff Writer
The students were hit with statistics.
More than 90% of trafficking victims are under 18, by some reports.
And the Tampa Bay and Suncoast region has the highest prevalence in the state.
In a student workshop the Hillsborough County school district called the first of its kind, 40 high schoolers from the Mayor’s Youth Corps, a youth leadership liason group of high school students, gathered on Saturday morning to learn about human trafficking and the ways traffickers seek their victims through online grooming, from Spotify playlists to AI deep fakes used for s*xtortion.
School board member Lynn Gray, who leads Hillsborough County Public Schools’ Human Trafficking Taskforce, said she got involved with the topic when she learned of students who were abducted while walking to school in 2018 in an area with high poverty.
“How do we get our kids safe to at least know what they’re going to be doing with social media, what social media is doing to them, and what can we do to make them more aware and safe?” she said. “Student leaders, they’re the role models, right? They’re the ones that can be the satellites.”
Representatives from the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office and FBI talked to students about their operations, and a survivor shared personal anecdotes. Students learned about who to reach out to if they suspect trafficking is taking place and how to best protect their online profiles through privacy settings.
Reina “Caz” Kim, a junior at Strawberry Crest High School, said the workshop was important in starting a conversation.
“It’s important for youth leaders to be aware of s*x trafficking and topics such as these, because even though they’re sensitive, I think that’s why people should be talking about it even more,” Kim said. “People think that kids shouldn’t be knowing anything about this. But I think that is what makes kids more vulnerable.”
Andrew James Brazel, a junior at Jesuit High School, said it was important for young people to get involved in removing the stigma and victim blaming mindsets.
“Some people may, unfortunately, claim that the victim should have been acting smarter, whether or not they should have been, because that’s subjective,” Brazel said. “They’re still absolutely a victim, and they are still at harm. … If we reduce the stigma, then we could have more people coming forward for not only the attention that they need, but also the care that they need and for the resolution of the problem.”
Betsy Conley, a community outreach specialist for the FBI, said students are flooded with information online, but it was important to reach them with the right information.
“Coming out and talking to youth leaders is important because they become force multipliers, being able to go back to their schools, and the mayor’s council has so many schools represented for the community that this will be able to get that information out to the kids,” she said. “Kids know much more than we give them credit for.”
