As a student at the University of Saint Joseph PA Studies Program, Courtney Litts has demonstrated exemplary dedication to the PA Profession and a commitment to service in the community. Over the past two years, Courtney established herself as a leader amongst her peers as the USJ Class of 2025 ConnAPA Student Representative, a role in which she has demonstrated a great commitment to the PA profession. Outside of fulfilling the expected responsibilities of a ConnAPA Student Representative, which include providing school updates for the quarterly ConnAPA newsletter and serving as a liaison to her classmates, Courtney is an active participant in ConnAPA Student Committee meetings and has made meaningful contributions to ConnAPA student events like ConnAPA Student Day and PA Week.
Most notably, Courtney’s commitment to the annual ConnAPA Student philanthropic events has shown impressive dedication to serving the community. In 2023, she facilitated USJ’s participation in the ConnAPA Toy Drive, motivating her PA classmates to collect over 1,600 toys for Connecticut Children’s Hospital. In 2024, Courtney spear-headed the Toiletry Drive to benefit the non-profit organization Hands on Hartford. She managed all aspects of the philanthropic event, including coordination with Hands on Hartford, pick-up of all the donated toiletries from the five other PA programs in the state, and delivery of all items to Hands on Hartford at the end of the donation period. For a second year, Courtney inspired her classmates at USJ to collect over 1,600 toiletry donations, a significant portion of the 2,594 total items collected for the ConnAPA Student Committee effort. Additionally, Courtney facilitated a philanthropic partnership between the ConnAPA Student Committee and Hands on Hartford, and has been working with the non-profit about volunteer opportunities for PA Students across the state to provide blood pressure checks or blood glucose screenings to the community.
Courtney’s participation as a volunteer at the 2024 ConnAPA Golf Outing is further evidence of her commitment to the PA profession and the state chapter. At the event, she facilitated check-in, took team photos, and collected donations for the 50/50 raffle. As the only PA student in attendance this year, Courtney is paving the way by example for increased student participation at fundraising events.
While Courtney has been an admirable ConnAPA Student Representative, she also finds ways to promote the PA profession beyond her ConnAPA role. After attending a ConnAPA Executive Board meeting, she was inspired to increase awareness of the PA Profession by launching an AAPA Project Access campaign at USJ. Courtney worked with the USJ Admissions team to contact 17 high schools in the Greater Hartford area to establish Project Access events. In addition to organizing two Project Access events on her own, Courtney developed USJ-specific AAPA Project Access materials that she provided to her peers to conduct additional outreach. She established connections with schools in the area for ongoing advocacy for the PA profession in the future. Courtney demonstrated exemplary professionalism and leadership coordinating the AAPA Project Access campaign at USJ, promoting the PA profession individually, and recruiting her classmates to join her on school visits encouraging them to continue the mission.
In addition to her advocacy through the Project Access campaign, Courtney was one of three clinical year students at USJ who participated in an interdisciplinary/interprofessional event hosted by the Interprofessional Education Collaborative. At this event, she participated in several student-led case presentations and meaningful discussion about safe, high-quality, accessible, equitable, patient-centered collaborative care. As a result, students from various disciplines,including Pharmacy, Nursing, and Social Work, were exposed to the PA profession and role in healthcare delivery. Courtney’s participation in events such as these exhibit her dedication to interprofessional collaborative practice, which is central to improving population health outcomes.
Beyond her involvement with USJ, Courtney leveraged her connections as an Alumni of Wesleyan University to promote the PA profession to dozens of female college athletes at the 2024 Women’s Athletic Mentoring Workshop hosted by The Wesleyan Athletics Advantage (A+ Program). As a certified Stop the Bleed Instructor, Courtney organized and executed an American College of Surgeons Stop the Bleed training session with the 2024 Wesleyan Women’s Soccer Team. Additionally, she promoted the PA profession to hundreds of high-school students across the State of Connecticut as a guest speaker at the 2023 Leadership Luncheon hosted by the Connecticut Hugh O’Brian Youth Leadership Organization.
Courtney’s commitment to the PA profession is commendable. Even more impressive is her passion for, and dedication to, a life of service. For the past three years, and throughout her PA student career at USJ, Courtney served as the Leadership Seminar Chair (LSC) of the Connecticut Hugh O’Brian Youth Leadership Organization (CT HOBY), a non-profit organization whose mission is to develop and inspire a community of youth leaders dedicated to a life of leadership and service. Having been an active volunteer of CT HOBY since 2017, as the Leadership Seminar Chair Courtney holds the highest position a volunteer can achieve in the organization. She manages a team that organizes an annual three-day Leadership Flagship Seminar, teaching the core value of leadership through service to nearly 200 CT high school sophomores. She also leads the CT HOBY Alumni Association which plans several community service events throughout the year. Courtney volunteers hundreds of hours each year in her role, executing responsibilities such as preparing a yearly budget, setting up fundraisers, creating programming, recruiting ambassadors, securing volunteers, and coordinating food, housing, and facility logistics with local universities. During her time as LSC, Courtney originated several partnerships between CT HOBY and other non-profits in Connecticut including Gifts of Love, Brian Cody’s Brothers and Sisters Foundation, For All Ages, and Card Angels to host school supply drives, an Overdose Awareness Festival, and holiday card writing campaigns that benefit several communities across the State of Connecticut.
In addition to her efforts as an integral volunteer at CT HOBY, Courtney supported the USJ PA Studies Admissions Committee, volunteering to participate in candidate tours and panel discussions at USJ PA Program Interview days, contributed to USJ’s Salvation Army Adopt-a-Family volunteer efforts in 2023 and 2024, and executed a group service project at USJ addressing the components of healthy aging in the elderly population, specifically providing information and guidance on nutrition at an event at the West Hartford Senior Center.
Courtney was awarded the Connecticut PA Foundation Scholarship in 2024, in recognition of her admirable values, community involvement, leadership, and advocacy efforts. She has shown remarkable dedication to service and PA advocacy, all while managing the rigorous didactic schedule of a PA student, mastering the material, and exceeding expectations on clinical rotations, Courtney’s achievements are commendable, both inside and outside of the classroom, making her an outstanding candidate for ConnAPA PA Student of the Year 2025.