Content Warning: This article contains mentions of domestic violence. 

Business freshman Teagan House was honored with the Texas Council on Family Violence’s Activist of the Year award in a ceremony at the Texas Capitol as part of the council’s rally to lobby for lawmakers’ support with new laws bolstering protections for victims of family abuse. On Thursday, advocates like House spent the morning sharing their stories behind their activism before meeting with lawmakers.   

House received the honor for her work surveying dozens of students in her former high school about their experiences with teen dating violence. Upon taking this data to her school administrators in her junior year, district officials informed her of legal roadblocks preventing district wide action. She decided to take her findings to a meet and greet with Texas senators and representatives to present their research.

“The bill that I was trying to help get passed last year was to change the words ‘opt in,’ to ‘opt out,’ because right now (Texas law) has it to where parents kind of have to ask for (teen dating violence) education … ,” House said. “I feel like it shouldn’t be something that you can’t teach about. (Many students are) already going through it.”

House, who eventually hopes to bring her advocacy to UT, said she became inspired to take up the cause of dating violence advocacy after first learning about her friend’s experiences. 

“One of my friends told me that her boyfriend was saying that if she broke up with him or ended the relationship, then he would kill himself, ” House said. “And that actually wasn’t the first time I had heard that specific form of manipulation or that threat. The first time I heard it was actually in seventh grade when one of my 12-year-old friends heard that from her boyfriend.” 

William West, a prevention manager with the family violence council, said dating violence isn’t just an issue for students in high school, but also stands as a common issue for college-aged students across the country. 

“(Relationship violence is) not about anger, it’s not about substance abuse, it’s not about mental health,” West said. “Certainly, those are things that influence how the violence appears in a relationship, but it’s about power and control.”

West said that when deciding who would be selected for this year’s activist award, House’s age and dedication to her advocacy stood out.  

“It’s pretty rare that we find a high school student who has taken the initiative to create an entire research project in their school to assess dating violence,” West said. “So the fact that she did that and then took that analysis to her legislators is really impressive, and it’s a big deal for a young person to invest so much effort in collecting that data, because the numbers are often what moves people, particularly at the statewide level.”

Roy Rios, the council’s director of prevention, said that House’s determination to continue spreading awareness after what could have been a roadblock also moved the nomination committee. 

“What (Teagan and her colleagues) led us to understand is that there’s a great need for healthy relationship education in the San Antonio community, and it’s a reflection of what we see statewide being needed,” Rios said. “Young people are going to reach out to other young people, and those young people need to be armed with strategies and information on where to get their friends help, and so that’s one of the key things we need to be aware of.”

If you or someone you know is experiencing abuse, you can contact the National Domestic Violence Hotline at (800) 799-7233 for help.