As you already know, every student at Westside must complete a senior project to graduate. Students are free to explore any topic of their choice. For senior Leah Schwarz, her project and topic goes beyond the walls of Westside and the United States and into Cambodia, a small country in Southeast Asia.

Schwarz’s topic for her senior project is helping trafficked women in Cambodia who have been victims of prostitution. For the “product” portion of her project, Schwarz is running a benefit concert for the Rapha House. The Rapha house is a safe house located in Cambodia that protects trafficked young women so they can avoid being forced back into prostitution.

“Women at the Rapha house are taught many skills so they can go back into the world and know what to do next, how to take care of themselves and how to earn money,” Schwarz said.

The concert is set to be held at Scooters on 180^th and Q streets from 6-8:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 21.

The concert will feature four performers: KJ Vogt, Westside senior Morgan Zabel, Class of 2014 alum David Atwell, and Belles and Whistles, which includes Class of 2014 alum Kelli Schilken. These performers will be playing throughout the whole night and, between performances, Schwarz will be speaking about Rapha, what human trafficking is and how it affects the United States.

Admission to the event is free and 10 percent of the Scooters drink earnings will go to the Rapha House. People are also free to donate to the cause.

“I found out about [sex trafficking] after a friend of mine went to the Rapha house to be an intern and she came back and was really interested and had a lot to share with me about her time in Cambodia,” Schwarz said. “I was then really interested in it from sophomore year, and I wrote some stories about it in literature and was really interested in how nobody knows about sex trafficking.”

Schwarz’s senior project instructor, Molly Spisak, heard about what Schwarz was doing for her senior project and fully approved.

“It’s something she is passionate about and it also features a lot of Westside talent, which I think is really cool,” Spisak said. “I think, overall, the event will be really successful and it is something that she thinks is really important.”

Scooters and Kinkos were two businesses that helped Schwarz organize her concert. Scooters was generous in allowing Schwarz to get the space for her concert for free. Schwarz also negotiated with Kinkos to have them give her reduce prices on advertisements. Schwarz is grateful for these businesses allowing her to put together a concert that will benefit both the Rapha House and the women being protected.