Students: Zay’Navieah Barnes, Selena Burton, Leilani Cruz, Yaffa Gallon, Jessica Ochiabutor, Arianna Pryor-El
Grade: 10th-12th Grade
Submission Date: 5/19/2026
Location: Lansing, Illinois
Project Focus: Child Sexual Abuse Awareness and Prevention
Overview: Our group took on the subject of child sexual abuse, focusing on both its causes and awareness. We felt called to dig deeper into this topic because of a situation involving a former teacher and the lack of communication between administration and families about it. Our target audience was everybody, especially school staff and children. Our main goal was to de-stigmatize the topic, because many students joked about it and staff did not take it seriously.
Our Journey
On the surface, we all knew this was an issue people considered "wild" until it happened to them or they saw it firsthand, and this was us. We believed staff should communicate situations like this to families and students, because families deserve to know what is going on in the places where their children spend most of their day. Our research and empathy interviews with educators and parents in our community showed us how big this issue was and how close to home it hit. Through our research, we found Erin's Law, an Illinois law that requires public schools to teach age-appropriate child sexual abuse prevention from pre-K through 12th grade. We brought this to our Health teacher, who agreed to implement it in their classes. We saw that we have the chance to speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, and to honor and provide resources for those who do not have proper access.
Project Artifact
Public Service Announcement video shared with school community, 2026
Our Impact
We were quite happy with the result of our work. We are still in expectation of the conversations that will occur when we are able to show our PSA and the conscious conversations that will happen as a result. Also, our Principal of Curriculum and Instruction was excited that we had found a Erin’s Law curriculum that he would consider implementing throughout all subject areas.
During our Exhibition presentation, we got lots of positive feedback from students and teachers that were present and how it can be shared throughout the district. One of the students reported, “Thank you for sharing this, we really haven’t spoke about it here and I’m happy we are”. A teacher shared, “I think you all should go to the classrooms and present this like you did for us”. Another teacher stated, “It’s about time, thank you”.
This is also just the beginning. Although majority of our group has graduated, we still continue to speak up and speak out against child sexual abuse and its impact on society. We did have a few staff members reach out and commend us for the work we have done, and for the work that still needs to be done.
At this point in time, the project has been laid to rest. However, this does not mean the message is gone, too. We hope that, if there is another cohort of the YPC at our school, we hope that they can find news ways to deliver the message of awareness, community, and prevention methods to stop child sexual abuse cases from rising, or at least the ones that have yet to be reported.
