Katy Jenkins Courtney, BS ’81, and Lee Courtney
26 years loyal
For Katy Jenkins Courtney and her husband, Lee Courtney, WashU has stood as a significant presence in their lives — from Katy’s undergraduate years as a cross-country athlete and electrical engineering student at the McKelvey School of Engineering to the couple attending WashU reunions with their son, Michael. For the past 26 years, Katy and Lee have made a difference in the lives of students by contributing to scholarships and athletics.
In 2019, Michael died by suicide. He was 18. In his memory, Katy and Lee established the Michael Ryan Courtney Scholarship at WashU. The three-year pledge supports Make Way: Our Student Initiative, a fundraising effort aimed at building financial resources for students and creating a best-in-class student experience.
Katy and Lee met when they were both fresh out of undergrad, working as engineers at Hewlett-Packard in California. Their careers took them through small ventures and Fortune 10 companies. Today, Katy works as a business operations manager for a science education company. Lee is retired.
What motivated you to make a scholarship gift in memory of your son, Michael?
Katy: When you lose someone, you want to do something to commemorate him. We had attended several reunions as a family, and Michael always enjoyed WashU. He was considering applying to the university and seemed like he would have been at home there. Being able to help another student achieve their dreams is a way to carry on his legacy and to make WashU within reach for someone else.
What was Michael like?
Lee: I think he would have fit in very well at WashU. A lot of the values and experiences that Katy had going to school at WashU were ones that we shared with Michael: independent thinking and a desire to help others. There are a lot of smart kids out there, but he was also an out-of-the-box self-starter. He volunteered as a poll worker when he was 16, and he was a better poll worker than I was. He was very conscientious and enthusiastic in his work.
What impact do you hope that scholarship gifts like this one will have?
Lee: From what I know about WashU, I feel confident that this scholarship will go to a student who will use the opportunity to go out into the world and do great things.
Katy: I believe that scholarships are a meaningful way to help students go to college without having to take out too much debt, so WashU’s no-loan policy factored into our thinking. I hope it empowers the recipient to help people in whatever way that their talents and skills allow them to. Michael had a strong interest in social justice, and I hope that this scholarship will allow other students to not just get a good job, but to benefit others and to change the world.
Why is it important for you to consistently give year after year?
Katy: I was a partial scholarship recipient at WashU. So, I wanted to pay it forward with scholarships. Also, in my day, athletics didn’t always have great funding, especially smaller teams like cross-country. I remember riding with the team in the van, and the places we would stop for lunch and the kind of uniforms we had available. And so, supporting athletics through the W Club has been a soft spot for me. I’m glad my smaller gifts over the years helped provide a little extra for the smaller athletic teams.
Katy, what aspects of your WashU experience mean the most to you?
Katy: WashU was a life-changing experience for me: the depth of connections, the people I met, and the variety of activities and experiences and thought. I came to WashU to study engineering, but I was also dabbling in pre-med. I could do that here while also competing in college athletics. I think the interdisciplinary studies and opportunities for collaboration with so many great people are part of what makes WashU special.