It was the third week of the Spring 2012 semester when a student approached public health professor Jim Byrne, JD, CASAC, asking to enroll in one of his more demanding courses that met once weekly. He explained the challenging amount of work required to catch up after missing the first two weeks of class. For many students it would seem daunting. But for Sabrina Marsha-Gaye Cammock, she welcomed the challenge. Her commitment to immediately do three weeks of readings and submit a series of high-quality written assignments to catch up was admirable and unstoppable. And successful. Her work product far exceeded that of many of her peers who had been in the class from day one.
The school’s record-holder for the 4 x 100-meter relay and one of the most successful sprinters in Syracuse University history as a member of the Women’s Track and Field Team for four years, Cammock is warmly remembered as a vibrant, hard-working young woman who was fully engaged with faculty, coaches and her peers with the desire to improve healthcare for others because it was the right thing to do. Cammock, a Dean’s List student scheduled to graduate from Falk College with a major in public health and addiction studies minor in May 2015, died unexpectedly in March. Her degree will be awarded posthumously on May 9.
“Sabrina was always a serious student who attended to her studies and classes without asking for any special treatment while bringing tremendous energy to the classroom. She was routinely well-prepared for classes and was willing to effectively share her insights integrating the readings with her life experiences and topics from our class discussions,” notes Byrne, who taught her in several public health courses and was her academic advisor.
In one course that required community-oriented engagement, she tutored local high school students who were at risk to drop out of school. Once her class requirements were completed, her commitment to helping others led her to continue volunteer work with the students. She combined that experience with working as a teacher’s assistant and camp counselor at Montessori’s Progressive summer camp during which she further sharpened her ability to build relationships with diverse individuals and helped others where and when they needed it.
During the summer of 2013, she successfully completed a Primary Care/Health Administration Internship with Harlem United. This competitive opportunity allowed her to be immersed in a clinic providing healthcare services in New York City. The following summer, she continued her relationship with Harlem United while balancing caretaking of her grandmother who had been ill. To fulfill her Senior Capstone requirement, Sabrina interned at SUNY Upstate Medical University during the Fall 2014 semester, a requirement she completed ahead of schedule. “Sabrina performed well enough in her courses to be selected by SUNY Upstate for her Capstone project,” notes Byrne.
Last spring, she took two 400-level courses that required group work and high-level synthesis of concepts. She was consistently a leader in both processes earning an “A” in these difficult classes. In class, she was described as eloquent in presenting ideas in discussions and equally adept at expressing complex ideas in writing; she did this in a direct, succinct and relaxed manner engaging others.
She was evaluating opportunities for what she would do after graduation, including internship at Emory Clinic. She was excited about the possibility of being named an SU Engagement Fellow. “Sabrina was an enthusiastic, friendly, outgoing and responsible young woman with an ability to engage others. I had the privilege to see her show her potential as a change-agent and to see her plan her undergraduate education to enhance those skills,” concludes Byrne.
As Sabrina was passionate about women’s issues, and in honor of her memory, the family has requested donations be made to the Sabrina Cammock Fund at the Allen Women’s Resource Center to serve battered and abused women in the Queens, NY area. For more information, contact: Allen Women’s Resource Center, Darlene B. McCune, P.O. Box 340316, Jamaica, NY, 11434, dmmccune@allenwomens.org, (718) 739-6200.