About the Candidate
Jefferson Memorial Pool Lifeguards in 2014
Courtney Knill was born and raised in Charles Town, WV. In her early years she played soccer with JCYSL on Hunter St, participated in tennis camps at the Jefferson Memorial Park, and loved to swim at the Jefferson Memorial Park Pool. Her first ever job was working for the City of Charles Town as a lifeguard at the park pool. If your kids took swimming lessons at the park in the 2010s there is a good chance that Courtney was one of their instructors.
Courtney graduated Cum Laude from local Shepherd University with a Bachelors of Science degree in business with a minor in nutrition. At Shepherd she participated in multiple organizations, some in leadership roles including the Delta Sigma Pi business fraternity, the Chemistry Society, as well as political groups.
Jefferson County Fair Pagent
Graduation from Shepherd University
She enjoyed the philanthropy opportunities being part of clubs encouraged and spent time organizing cleanups along the banks of the Shenandoah River, volunteering at the local animal shelter and rescue mission, and has spent many years working with youth both as a soccer coach as well as a youth leader and mentor at churches in the area.
Courtney has held many different types of professional roles. She has worked for the USDA Fruit Research Station in Kearneysville WV doing genetic plant research in peach and plum trees. Her accolades for this have included participating in the Cornell summer scholars program and presenting her research in Geneva NY, and winning an early career award at the Mid-Atlantic Plant Molecular Biology Society meeting in 2016.
Newspaper photo with Co-Author Dr. Donald Hillman, Business Communications Professor at Shepherd University for International Authorship
Most recently Courtney worked for the Jefferson County Prosecuting Attorney’s office as a crime victim advocate. Not only is this office located directly in downtown Charles Town, but her role in advocacy meant that she worked directly with members of the public from Charles Town and the surrounding areas. This experience gave her a much greater understanding of the role of law enforcement in Charles Town, resources available to the public, and what challenges people in Charles Town are experiencing.
Shenandoah River Cleanup
Courtney with her award winning biological research 2016
She has a background in corporate insurance where she received an award for outstanding investigation skills that prevented insurance fraud. She also has experience working in both HR and marketing roles. In 2018 she became an author and was published internationally in an academic journal based out of Australia.
Discussing crime victim advocacy in Jefferson County with Governor Jim Justice
Having lived in or worked in Charles Town for nearly 30 years, Courtney is excited for the opportunity to serve on the Charles Town City Council and share her experience and ideas to help usher in a new era of Charles Town that is vibrant, and where small businesses can thrive without compromising any of the town’s beautiful historic roots.
Coaching youth soccer
Without an emphasis on health and safety, communities are unable to achieve their full potential. These are issues that Courtney is extremely passionate about. Having minored in nutrition, served as both a swim instructor and soccer coach, and having a strong personal passion for health and fitness, she would like to do everything possible to support the wellbeing of the residents of Charles Town. Her time working for the prosecuting attorney’s office gave her a very in-depth look into what types of calls and issues the Charles Town police department deals with on a day-to-day basis. As a member of the Charles Town City Council, Courtney will be sure that our EMS receives all the tools and resources they need to serve and protect our great city.
Perched atop her favorite hiking trail, Maryland Heights
Teaching a paint and sip class
Courtney has a strong artistic background having participated in community theater, is a talented vocalist and pianist, and has multiple ventures in visual art. Courtney has owned her own facepainting business, creates and sells acrylic paintings, does work in graphic design, has worked as a model, and loves to teach community painting classes. She is passionate about the importance of art and beautification of the community. Art provides a wonderful creative outlet for residents, and town beautification increases property values and adds to resident satisfaction.
Courtney also loves to get creative in the kitchen; writing many of her own recipes, and trying to create foods that are both healthy and delicious. She would love any opportunity to share her love of nutrition and healthy eating with our community and schools. She believes that access to healthy affordable foods should be a community priority, and is a strong advocate for farm to table commerce.
Modeling tallow fried potato chips
First flying lesson overlooking Jefferson County from above
As a jack of all trades, Courtney has more hobbies than she can count. She is passionate about aviation and flying, and loves adventure and travel. So far she has visited 41 of the 50 states, and has it on her bucket list to eventually get all 50. Outside of West Virginia, some of her favorite places to visit are Arizona and Florida. In 2021 Courtney traveled the furthest she ever had from the continental United States, and joined Convoy of Hope in providing humanitarian aide to the people of Puerto Rico who were recovering from both a devastating hurricane and earthquake.
In her free time, Courtney loves to be outside enjoying fresh air and sunshine as much as possible. She loves to kayak on the Shenandoah River, go hiking in Harpers Ferry National Park, play friendly games of tennis in the Jefferson Memorial Park, and she also enjoys snowboarding, rock climbing, distance swimming, snorkeling, playing volleyball and soccer, participating in organized races and mud runs, practicing yoga, taking barre and pilates classes, weightlifting, and golfing.
Hiking in Sedona Arizona
Humanitarian trip with Convoy of Hope to Ponce, Puerto Rico
bloom where you are planted