June 26, 2008
Jack Kent Cooke scholarship will help student fight human trafficking
Judges for the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation Graduate Scholarship said Christina Arnold was exactly the kind of student the scholarship committee was seeking. She’s already founded a home for street children, spoken at embassies, and been invited to the White House. Now she’s been selected for a $300,000 award from a field of 957 university-nominated candidates nationwide.
Arnold, SPA/BA ’04, grew up in South and Southeast Asia, where early glimpses of children in the sex trade moved her to take action against human trafficking. The nonprofit she started in 1999, now called Prevent Human Trafficking, was one of the first U.S. organizations to draw attention to millions of impoverished women and children trapped in the sex industry through kidnaping, deception, or exploitation.
Her achievements during and after her AU college years were impressive. Her nonprofit supports antitrafficking efforts in Thailand, Cambodia, and the United States. Its projects range from a home for street children in Thailand to training sessions for embassy officials in Washington, D.C., at the behest of the U.S. Office of the Attorney General.
But she knew she had a lot to learn. As the founder of a fledgling nonprofit, Arnold kept encountering legal issues she could never have predicted.
“One day a donor called and said, ‘My wife and I were thinking how much more we’d like to support your work. We’d like to give you our extra yacht,’” she recalls.
A yacht, the donors knew, could be sold to bring much-needed funds for the nonprofit’s efforts. But Arnold had no idea how to proceed through the potential legal jungle.
What paperwork would they need? Could they raffle off a day on the yacht before selling it, or would that violate legal codes involving nonprofits and donations?
It was just one small example of a time when Arnold felt that a legal education would serve her well, whether arguing for the rights of trafficking victims or handling the day-to-day affairs of a nonprofit.
Nor was it the only need she felt for further education. “Everything I’ve done in nonprofits, I’ve learned through trial and error,” she says. “In the last couple of years, I recognized there’s a lot to learn about best practices in running nonprofits, in leadership and managing people and inspiring them. I knew I would benefit from learning more about nonprofit management, because I see myself in this arena for a long time.”
Arnold wanted to pursue degrees in both public administration and law while continuing her work with Prevent Human Trafficking. Now the $300,000 scholarship will enable her to achieve her goals.
She is AU’s fourth Cooke scholar, and the first to be selected since the formerly regional scholarship became a national competition to help young people of exceptional promise reach their potential through education. One of 35 recipients, Arnold will use her scholarship to pursue a master’s in public administration at AU’s School of Public Affairs, followed by law school.
The Cooke is the second major nationally competitive scholarship that Arnold has received. She is also a 2003 Harry S. Truman Scholar.
