Courtney Stuckwisch is
Operations Manager at Cohen College Prep High in New Orleans. Originally from
Salem, Virginia, Courtney received her BA in English and French from the
University of Virginia in 2007 before coming to the Maxwell School to earn her
MPA in 2011.
“The charter
management organization that I work for is an open-enrollment network of
schools committed to preparing all of our students for a rigorous 4-year
college,” Courtney says. “I like to say that I do whatever my principal doesn't
do.” As head of operations, Courtney creates student schedules, manage student
data, build relationships with vendors, maintain technology, coordinate
testing, and more. “This is our first year with graduating seniors, and as of
mid-February, 56% of our students had been accepted to college with hundreds of
thousands in scholarship money,” she says. “Our graduates have a bright future
ahead of them.” Courtney is also a Teach for America Greater New Orleans area
2007 alum.
“At Maxwell I really
wanted to focus on quantitative skills since my background is in humanities. I
decided to take Lopoo for Statistics and Quant. It was challenging, but
rewarding! I also discovered a sincere love for state and local government,”
she says. “My Metropolitan government class was awesome - I loved that our
professors of practice had a wealth of experience actually running a city.
Finally, I loved being VP of the Maxwell Women's Caucus. Due to the one-year
nature of the MPA, every club and experience will be as YOU make it. In the MWC
we strove to take advantage of people around so many amazing women who work for
Maxwell by having brown bag lunches with many of the female professors and
hosting workshops on budgeting and salary negotiation.” Courtney was also a
graduate assistant for Professor Van Slyke during my time at Maxwell, helping
to plan the bi-annual PMRA conference that was hosted at Maxwell in 2011.
Her advice for current
Maxwell students? “The cold winter gives you the perfect opportunity to get
cozy and make lasting friendships with your classmates. I was so inspired by my
cohort and I continue to keep in touch and network with many of them.”