At 7:30 p.m. on Oct. 12, Loyola will present the Sister Cleophas Costello Lecture, delivered by Elizabeth Smart, a child safety advocate and founder of The Elizabeth Smart Foundation.

Smart is the 27th woman to speak at the lecture, honoring the lecture series’ intent to instill qualities of hope and leadership in Loyola students, particularly in young women.

In addition to her activism work, Smart also authored “My Story,” where she recounts her painful experience being abducted from her home in Salt Lake City, Utah, at the age of 14. In her book, Smart details the chilling nine months she spent with her abductors, their journey to California, and how her will to survive, and the faith that her family would find her, led her home.

Commenting on her perseverance during the dark days of her captivity, Smart told NBC journalist Meredith Vieira in 2013, “Things that I’d always told myself I’d never do, I would do them if it meant I would survive. If it meant that one day I would be able to go back home and be with my family again, I would do it.”

After trekking back to Utah from California with her abuser and his wife, Smart was found in the city of Sandy, Utah, and was reunited with her family. After her discovery, Smart attended Brigham Young University and has since dedicated her life to ensuring that all children are protected from ever having to experience a situation like she endured. Today, she is married and an advocate for empowering survivors of sexual crime and assault, whose work includes emphasizing the need for legislation such as The Adam Walsh Child Protection & Safety Act.

The Sister Cleophas Costello Lecture series was founded by the Loyola in the early 1980s in honor of the late Sister Mary Cleophas Costello, RSM. Costello served as president of Mount Saint Agnes College, a university that joined with Loyola in 1971.

“The Sister Cleophas Costello Lecture celebrates the memory of an educator who awakened in her students a passion for making a difference in the world,” Dean of the School of Education Dr. Joshua Smith said in an interview with Loyola.

Tickets for the Sister Cleophas Costello Lecture became available to Loyola and Mount Saint Agnes College alumnae on Sept. 1. A limited supply of tickets also became available to students and faculty this past Monday, Sept. 18. General public tickets are now available for $20.

*FEATURED PHOTO COURTESY OF LOYOLA