{"id":197895,"date":"2025-10-02T20:49:59","date_gmt":"2025-10-03T01:49:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=197895"},"modified":"2025-10-02T20:50:01","modified_gmt":"2025-10-03T01:50:01","slug":"local-students-part-of-statewide-board","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2025\/10\/02\/local-students-part-of-statewide-board\/","title":{"rendered":"Local students part of statewide board"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><em>VW independent staff\/submitted information<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>COLUMBUS &#8212; Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost welcomed members of the 2025-26\u00a0Teen Ambassador Board\u00a0this week by inviting them to sit in on a press conference announcing the results of a statewide human trafficking crackdown,\u00a0Operation Next Door.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The board, made up of high-school juniors and seniors, had a behind-the-scenes look at how a press conference in Yost\u2019s office unfolds. They also had the opportunity to directly question AG Yost and law enforcement officials about the sting. This year\u2019s board includes local students Kendall Hoffman of Lincolnview and Natalie Hempker of Delphos Jefferson, along with a pair of Vantage Career Center students \u2013 Peyton Pennell and Kaitlyn Antus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Students asked thoughtful questions, including:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>What are the early warning signs of human trafficking?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>How big of a role does social media play in victimization?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>What happens next after an operation like this?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"550\" height=\"366\" src=\"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Teen-Ambassador-Board-10-2025.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-197896\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Members of the 2025-2026 Teen Ambassador Board gathered in Columbus this week. The board includes four local students. <em>Photo submitted<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>Officials offered clear takeaways for the young audience:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Trust your gut \u2013 a bad feeling is reason enough to report a tip to the\u00a0Human Trafficking Hotline\u00a0(844-363-6448).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Never trust strangers online and never share intimate photos, no matter how well you think you know someone.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Human trafficking stings continue as long as there is a demand for purchased sex, with law enforcement tactics evolving based on changing trends.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cTeenagers are often dismissed as bystanders, but this year\u2019s group showed that they\u2019re anything but,\u201d Yost said. \u201cThey asked tough questions, including some that adults might be reluctant to ask. Ohio\u2019s future is in good hands.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>During the one-year term, Teen Ambassador Board members will have opportunities to offer their perspectives on issues affecting young Ohioans and to engage directly with state officials through interactive learning sessions, policy discussions and hands-on activities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This year\u2019s board is made up of 182 students from across the state. For a full list of the 2025-26 board members, click&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/urldefense.proofpoint.com\/v2\/url?u=https-3A__links-2D1.govdelivery.com_CL0_https-3A-252F-252Fohioattorneygeneral.gov-252FFiles-252FGovernment-2DEntities-252FSchools-252FTAB-2D2025-2D26.aspx_1_01000199a6539a0f-2D15b0142b-2D091e-2D42a8-2D9c9d-2Dca977e40f2e7-2D000000_i96Gq2l425KCm0lfBs2Duh5FTU7yPBeLM3aaD7-2DH-2DF4-3D425&amp;d=DwMFaQ&amp;c=euGZstcaTDllvimEN8b7jXrwqOf-v5A_CdpgnVfiiMM&amp;r=FC13PzDbVZ8qhVsUeHYgLJLYUVcrkfTA5q3JvQduqoI&amp;m=SNWVmBmo59gswZ7jY9YSq1tWmPOXpWLZFhi7TOfMtzaow83RQvsciL6hjTrkZVlk&amp;s=4Kd_xjSfqmff1-z3YcIi-d-AIpVXzwixp93n90XVjyM&amp;e=\">here<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>VW independent staff\/submitted information COLUMBUS &#8212; Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost welcomed members of the 2025-26\u00a0Teen Ambassador Board\u00a0this week by inviting them to sit in on a press conference announcing the results of a statewide human trafficking crackdown,\u00a0Operation Next Door. The board, made up of high-school juniors and seniors, had a behind-the-scenes look at how [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-197895","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-06 12:11:33","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197895","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=197895"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197895\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":197897,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197895\/revisions\/197897"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=197895"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=197895"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=197895"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}