VICTORY BELL
FROM
Abbey Kortz '12
...MY JUNIOR YEAR THE FINANCE CLASS WENT TO A ST. LOUIS BLUES GAME. BEFORE THE GAME WE GOT TO TOUR THE SCOTTRADE CENTER WITH THEIR OPERATIONS MANAGER AND THAT WAS THE NIGHT I TOLD MYSELF I WANTED TO BE IN HIS SHOES ONE DAY.
11 Chronicle, Winter 2018
C-SC
Millions of fans plop in front of some sort of screen to watch the Super Bowl every year. There’s no shortage of pomp and circumstance associated with the annual event; it’s the climax of the NFL’s season where a group of men are crowned champions after all of the blood, sweat and tears of a five-month odyssey. For Abbey Kortz, that odyssey began in high school and reached its pinnacle when the AFC and NFC champions battled for the Vince Lombardi Trophy on February 4 at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Kortz, a 2012 Culver-Stockton College graduate, knew in high school she wanted to work in the sports industry. It wasn’t until her junior year at C-SC when her finance class took a trip to a St. Louis Blues game that she wanted to work in operations. “I knew coming into my freshman year that I wanted to study sport management,” said Kortz, “but it wasn’t until my junior year when I decided what department to focus on.” “I took an events and facilities class my sophomore year and I had a lot of interest in the subject. Then in my junior year, the finance class went to a St. Louis Blues game. Before the game we got to tour the Scottrade Center with their Operations Manager and that was the night I told myself I wanted to be in his shoes one day.” After graduating from C-SC, Kortz enrolled at Missouri Baptist University to attain her master’s degree. While there, she interned in the operations department for the St. Louis Cardinals when they went to the World Series in 2013. “I had my first internship at the University of Missouri-St. Louis with the Events and Facilities Manager, but it wasn’t for me,” asserted Kortz. “I went on to intern with the Cardinals in their Stadium Operations department and it was a lifechanging experience for me. I knew I was destined to be doing this for a living.” After her internship ended in 2014, Kortz says none of the sports organizations were hiring in St. Louis so she took a sales position with the Germain Arena and Florida Everblades of the East Coast Hockey League in Fort Myers, Florida.