News Release
Miss Michigan Discusses Human Trafficking
The University of Detroit Mercy College of Liberal Arts and Education will be hosting a talk with 2010 Miss Michigan Katie LaRoche of Bay City about the nonprofit organization she formed, “One World, One Future.” The anti-human trafficking organization was established to eliminate the crime of modern day slavery on both the local and international levels.
LaRoche will be speaking to UDM’s “Global Issues in Criminal Justice” (CJ-447) course on Tuesday, June 7 at 5:00 p.m. in the Briggs building, McNichols Campus, Room #211.
“Katie has always been extremely passionate in helping make a difference,” said Lindsey Schuholz, a co-founder and the organization’s vice president of administration. Schuholz is also an admissions counselor at UDM and speaks to schools and community groups in her spare time. “We want to raise awareness that these problems exist, and Katie utilized her Miss Michigan platform from the beginning, to talk about how we can all make a difference in other people’s lives.”
“One World, One Future” is an organization run by a group of ambitious women, determined to help their brothers and sisters around the world that are unjustifiably facing a life of slavery. Their compassion and motivation for this cause is rooted in the empathetic realization of what a life spent voiceless and trapped in slavery would be like.
An Alpha Chi Omega alumna, she first learned of the trafficking problems after her experience volunteering in an orphanage in Belize and her work in Nepal with an agency fighting child trafficking with the Sisters of Mother Theresa. As Miss Michigan, she aspired to bring this issue to the forefront, to lobby for stronger state and federal legislation, and to attain funding for proper rehabilitation services for victims at home and abroad.
Prior to taking the role of Miss Michigan, she worked as a legislative aide in the Michigan House of Representatives in Lansing after graduating from Michigan State University with a sociology degree. LaRoche plans to earn a Ph.D. in international development in the future.
This event is free and open to the public. For more information about LaRoche’s organization “One World, One Future,” visit: http://www.oneworldonefuture.org.
Release date: May 20, 2011
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The University of Detroit Mercy is Michigan's largest private Catholic University, offering approximately 100 majors and programs in 60 academic fields. Sponsored by the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits) and the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas, the University has three campuses located in downtown and northwest Detroit.
For the 12th consecutive year, UDM was ranked among the top tier of Midwestern master's universities in U.S.News & World Report's "Best Colleges," 2013 edition.
