Courtney B.

Distinguished Graduate and Theodore Roosevelt Leadership and Scholarship Award Winner @National War College

US

Over the past 10 months at the National War College (NWC), I successfully completed all requirements for a Master of Science in National Security Strategy with a Concentration in China Studies while exceeding program expectations, ultimately graduating as a Distinguished Graduate and receiving the prestigious Theodore Roosevelt Award for Leadership and Scholarship. This honor, selected through a rigorous assessment of all 202 students, recognizes the graduate who best exemplifies the traits of a scholar and strategic leader that the NWC was founded to develop. Beyond the six core graduate courses and China Studies concentration, I spearheaded the Sahel and West Africa Practicum as Group Leader, guiding 13 fellow students through a comprehensive 5-month development of U.S. regional strategy. This effort culminated in authoring \"Promoting Regional Opportunity, Stability, and Partnerships for Economic Returns\"(PROSPER) and personally briefing both the U.S. Ambassador to Mali and the Director of African Affairs of the National Security Council on our proposed strategic framework. My leadership continued through the capstone Purple Tempest exercise, where I again served as Group Leader for the final presentation to Ambassador W. Patrick Murphy. Throughout this rigorous academic journey, I fulfilled all Joint Professional Military Education Phase II requirements, completed two NDU electives, and the Individual Strategic Research Project. This intensive graduate program has sharpened my strategic thinking and reinforced my ability to lead complex, multi-stakeholder initiatives at the highest levels of national security policy—qualities that earned recognition as the embodiment of Theodore Roosevelt\'s legacy of leadership and scholarship.