Monster truck driver advocates for child abuse prevention

Saturday marks the start of April, which is Child Abuse Prevention Month.

To help kick start awareness for it, a monster truck driver stopped by Family Services Alliance in Pocatello on Friday.

At 19 years old, Kaylyn Migues is the youngest female monster truck driver in the nation. She sits in the driver’s seat of the monster truck, “Jailbird.” But she’s also a large advocate for child abuse prevention.

Migues stopped at FSA to meet with kids and other community members. She signed autographs and took pictures and just said hello to anyone who stopped by.

“I think that it’s not brought up enough and I think that it’s not brought out into awareness more and I feel like being in motor sports, I have a different area of life that it’s maybe not brought to as much,” Migues said.

She also runs a suicide awareness campaign with her truck. She has the symbolic semicolon tattoo painted on the side. And she said every weekend, she has the names of two friends she lost to suicide in high school with her in the truck.

Migues said knowing that young kids look up to her and that she can impact even one with prevention campaigns is great.

“I’ve had people come up to me and say, ‘You made a difference for me, you caused me to go get help. It just means so much to me,” she said.

FSA said this was the perfect opportunity for them to not only create awareness about child abuse prevention, but also to show the community there are resources and organizations that can help those struggling.

What better role model to help advocate than a young monster truck expert?

“Family Services Alliance is all about empowering individuals and she is one empowered young woman and we are so excited to work with her,” said Sarah O’Bannion, director of FSA. “What a gift she’s willing to give to our community.”

Migues said she started monster truck racing two years ago after deciding she needed a change. Her dad has been doing it for 12 years and so she decided to follow in his footsteps.

She said when she started a lot of people had their doubts about her, but look at her now. That’s the message she wants to leave for people.

“Anyone can do whatever they want to do – whether it’s a doctor, a veterinarian, or a monster truck driver, anything you want to do, you can do it.” she said. “I just need everyone to go through school and get all your education. That’s what I had to do. Everyone can do it.”

Migues said she wants to keep competing in Monster Truck competitions but she eventually wants to have a career in something else, maybe cosmetology she said. Migues also said she would like to see her kids take up the sport of monster trucks one day too.

You can see both Migues and her dad race at the Monster Truck Grand Nationals on Sat. April 1 at 7:30 p.m. in ISU’s Holt Arena.

FSA’s crisis hotline is 208-251-4357 and you can call anytime, day or night, if you need help.