Indira Ridgeway Receives White House Award

Indira R. Ridgeway, a sophomore political science major, has been recognized by President Barack Obama for her unique community service in combating human trafficking.

Ms. Ridgeway recently received the President’s Volunteer Service Award for her ongoing work to educate people on the issue of human trafficking and advocate on behalf of victims of those criminal circumstances

The awards -- of which she received gold, silver and bronze medals -- were presented to Ms. Ridgeway during the Jan. 21 DSU Board of Trustees meeting.

“I am honored, but also very humbled by the award,” Ms. Ridgeway said. “I was raised by a family that taught me if you can help someone, then you should do so.”  She is the daughter of Dr. Michael and Deborah Brady; her mother surprised her by showing up at the meeting when the presentation was made.

A native of Harrisburg, Pa., Ms. Ridgeway said she was introduced to human trafficking as a high school 9^th grader, when she saw the movie Taken. After reading more about the crime, during her 10^th grade year she developed a display on the subject and entered it in the regional National History Day competition. She made it to the next level state competition, but did not make the national competition cut.

Her success in the competition resulted in being recognized on the floor of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. During her time there, she met Pennsylvania state Rep. Kevin Boyle, with whom she had a lengthy conversation on the issue of human trafficking.

That connection with the legislator led to an opportunity for Ms. Ridgeway to meet with a victim of human trafficking – a female from Latin America, who was being forced to commit prostitution. She and Rep. Boyle advocated on behalf of the victim and played a role in convincing the state’s Office of the Attorney to drop prostitution charges against her, Mr. Ridgeway said. Meanwhile, the FBI was able to track down and arrest the traffickers in that case.

Throughout her high school years, Ms. Ridgeway continued to serve as an advocate for those caught up in such circumstances. That ranged from working with victims and connecting with authorities who help to bring about a change in their situation, to educating others on the issue.

She even appeared before her local school board and persuaded members to approve four points of extra credit for students at her Science Tech High School for accessing the Homeland Security’s Human Trafficking website and taking advantage of the training offered online.

Now in her second year at DSU, while majoring in political science and minoring in law studies, she has continued her work on human trafficking. She says that law school is in her future and that she aspires to be a prosecuting attorney.