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Junior communication studies major Melody Neves recently received the award for Best Presenter in the category of communication at the Alpha Chi National College Honor Society Conference in Baltimore for her presentation titled, “Stripping Glamour from the Sex Industry: A Link Between Human Trafficking and Adult Entertainment.”
APU is part of the California Gamma Chapter, which was initiated in 1969. In order for a student to be part of this society, he or she must be in the top 10 percent of the class and be of junior or senior standing. Alpha Chi also recently reached out to those in graduate school who are in the top 10 percent and are at least halfway through their program, according to director of graduate academic support Rebecca Knippelmeyer.
“The program is well worth the investment. It helps promote academic integrity and support for other students here at APU,” Knippelmeyer said.
The Alpha Chi convention was held on Mar. 22–24. Neves first heard about it when she received an email stating that she was eligible for the honor society last October.  Having grown up in Maryland, Neves was intrigued about the convention, but was somewhat hesitant because she had never been a part of an honor society before. She did research to find out how joining Alpha Chi would be beneficial and decided to join.
Upon receiving information about the convention, Neves did not know if the research she had done was enough.
“I am really passionate about anti-human trafficking and the sex industry, so I knew I wanted to talk about that because anywhere that I can go to talk about that, I just love it. So few people realize how linked it is with the commercial sex industry,” Neves said.
Neves applied for the convention, and Alpha Chi joined with APU to fund the trip. Through these funds, Neves was able to go along with three other APU students: senior political science major Margarita Ramirez, junior political science major Courtney Webb and junior psychology major Spencer Stewart. They presented on Friday morning.
Preparation for this topic proved to be most difficult for Neves, especially trying to keep her presentation within the 10 to 12 minute time limit. She is so passionate about the topic that she said she could go on for 50 minutes. The next challenge that she came across was the fact that she was unaware of how much knowledge of human trafficking her audience already had.  Neves had to decide how much background she should give while also covering the ground that she wanted to address.
“Volunteering for Treasures, [a faith-based outreach and support group for women in the sex industry], I have been able to get a lot of life experience through talking to the women and hearing their stories, and so from that, I pulled together commonalities that came from these 30 stories. A lot of it was based on my own experiences because I have been there almost two years,” Neves said.
Her presentation focused on the link between human trafficking and the commercial sex industry. She looked specifically at pornography and how it plays a pivotal role in trafficking. She identified that pornography can not only be trafficking in itself, but also plays a major role in creating a demand for trafficked women and children.
“There’s no way to tell from the outside whether a person is acting of their own free will or if they are trafficked. People do not have a high view of women in the sex industry — they don’t know their life story. They just see the front they put up. I really like to go and expose those truths and challenge people’s mindsets,” Neves said.
She sees this Best Presenter award for the communication field as a possible step toward working for a company that aims to stop human trafficking. Her dream job would be to work with the Treasures organization long term.
“This was incredibly rewarding. It was not a competitive atmosphere even though there were awards. People were just passionate about what they were talking about and they just wanted to network with other people and share what was on their heart,” Neves said.