Holy Cross Junior Receives Award for Work with INTERPOL During Semester in D.C.

Alexa Child, a member of the College of the Holy Cross class of 2012, has been selected by the College’s Center for Interdisciplinary and Special Studies as the 2010 fall semester’s Maurizio Vannicelli Washington Semester Away program award. She will present a talk titled “Patting Down: Transportation Security,” on Monday, May 2 at 4 p.m. in the Rehm Library.

In Washington D.C., Child interned at INTERPOL, the international criminal police organization, and the second largest intergovernmental organization after the United Nations.  At INTERPOL, Child worked in the terrorism and violent crimes division and prepared international notices for wanted terrorists, murderers, and pornographers. Her talk will focus on transportation security after 9/11, and she will explain why policy and funding is only focused on aviation security, and ignores mass transit security, despite rising terrorist attacks on transit lines abroad, including Madrid and London.   Child, from Telluride, Colo., is a political science major and is a member of Student Programs for Urban Development (SPUD), a student-run community service organization at Holy Cross.

This summer Child will be working in Worcester as an intern with SAFEPLAN. She will be working with Daybreak Resources to assist victims of domestic violence and sexual assault with the court process of filing a restraining order against the abuser. After graduation, Child plans to attend law school to study criminal or public interest law in order to become a public prosecutor.   The Vannicelli Prize is awarded each semester in honor of the late Holy Cross political science professor and Washington Semester director, Maurizio Vannicelli, for best research paper produced in the Washington Semester Away program. The recipient of the prize is awarded the opportunity to give a public lecture at the College on his or her thesis. In addition, the recipient receives a bound copy of the thesis and is presented the book award during commencement exercises.