'A legacy of hope': Scholarship awarded in honor of Sydney Loofe – KETV

OMAHA, Neb. — Sydney Loofe's bright smile flashes on screen Friday night, as her family awarded a scholarship in Loofe's name.

“I guess I'm just glad that we are able to offer this every year,” Susie Loofe said.

The organization provides education on human trafficking and George said they presented at Neligh-Oakdale when he was principal.

“I hadn't really given human trafficking any thought at all, being where we live, and I went ahead with it, and they come in, and then a month or two later, Sydney went missing,” George said.

Loofe was murdered in 2017 by people she met through the dating app Tinder.

The Loofe family said while Sydney was not a victim of human trafficking, they feel strongly about educating people on things like cyber and social media safety.

“We felt this was a fantastic organization to give her scholarship in honor of,” Susie said.

Stephanie Olson, CEO of The Set Me Free Project said it's about making the world a safer place and honoring the kind and inquisitive person Loofe was.

“We want to make sure that her legacy is a legacy of hope. A legacy that is positive and a legacy of safety. And so we know that what she went through, had to do with some social media safety issues. And so our goal with this scholarship is really to honor her, to bring awareness to this,” Olson said.

Olson said they look for recipients who have a desire to protect people in situations of human trafficking or sexual violence.

This year's scholarship went to Mallory Zorn, a Lisco, Nebraska, native with plans to attend the University of Nebraska Omaha and eventually work as an ultrasound tech.

“So working in health care, I really think I'm on the frontlines you know, one on one with those people and I can be a safe place for them whenever they come to see me for anything really. So I'm really hopeful that I'll be able to help some people out in that way,” Zorn said.