NEACSM

The Camaione Student Endowment has been supporting student success for 20 years! To learn more about the history and current activities of this important initiative, click here. Many thanks to NEACSM Historian Sean Walsh, Ph.D., for his work developing this presentation.

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Committed to students and advancing excellence in sports medicine. 

 

History of the NEACSM & the David N. Camaione Student Endowment in Recognizing & Supporting Student Excellence 

The David N. Camaione Student Endowment was established by Dr. David Camaione’s family in recognition of the contributions of Dr. Camaione to NEACSM and his commitment to student success and to honor his 42-year career in higher education as a coach, professor, and university administrator. 

NEACSM has always made a strong commitment to student success.  In 1985, the NEACSM leadership began to solicit donations for a student scholarship fund. The following year at the annual Fall Meeting NEACSM awarded its inaugural NEACSM doctoral scholarship.  Notable recipients over the years have included: Laurie Goodyear, Roger Fielding, Deborah Riebe, Cara Ebbeling, Robert Kenefick, Edward Melanson, Marni Bopart, Eric Rawson, Monica Hubal, & Maria Urso among others*.  

The financial support from the DNC Endowment to support an NEACSM scholarship arose in June of 2000 when the Camaione Family successfully planned a surprise Retirement Dinner to honor Dr. Camaione. The donations generated from the retirement gathering served as launching pad for the funding of a student scholarship at the PhD level supported by the DNC Endowment. The scholarship would then be named the David N. Camaione Doctoral Scholarship. In 2020, the Scholarship title was changed to the Linda S. Pescatello Doctoral Scholarship, in recognition of the contributions of graduate student advocate and NEACSM Past President Linda Pescatello, Ph.D. , FACSM.

NEACSM’s continued commitment to students resulted in additional scholarships and awards recognizing outstanding undergraduate and graduate students in the New England regional chapter. In 1989, the first Masters Scholarship (later to be named the Mark Connolly Memorial Master Scholarship in 1993) was awarded and notable recipients included: Barry Braun. Robert Hyldahl, William Lunn, Kurt Sollanek, Jennifer Bossi, and Michael Bruneau*. 

In 1994, NEACSM established a Minority Scholarship (later to be named after Dr. Lawrence E. Armstrong, with NiCole Keith being its first recipient) and in 1999 NEACSM established an undergraduate scholarship (later to be named the Robert S. Axtell Scholarship). Because of the fundraising success of the DNC Endowment in its early years, as funds grew in the DNC Endowment it was able to further financially support scholarships awarded by the NEACSM. One such example was in 2012, after the passing of NEACSM’s beloved Processing Coordinator, the first Donna Murphy Service Award was established to recognize an outstanding student who “demonstrates extraordinary and sustained service” and academic achievement. To date, approximately 100 undergraduate and graduate students have received NEACSM scholarships* with the majority of them funded by the DNC Endowment.   

Each year the following scholarships, all fully supported by the DNC Student Endowment, are awarded at the annual Fall Meeting: 
- Linda S. Pescatello (formerly David N Camaione) Doctoral Scholarship for $1,000 
- Mark Connolly Memorial Master Scholarship for $1,000
- Robert S. Axtell Undergraduate Scholarship for $1,000
- Lawrence A. Armstrong Minority Scholarship for $1,000
- Donna Murphy Service Scholarship for $1,000  

NEACSM has also recognized outstanding student research and presentations by awarding Student Investigator Awards and research grants. Since 1991, over forty undergraduate and graduate students have received awards for outstanding research presentations at the annual Fall meeting. In addition, since 2012 up to three undergraduate research experience grants are awarded each year. These awards recognizing and supporting student research demonstrate NEACSM’s and the Camaione Student Endowment’s commitment to excellence and to students. To date approximately 60 undergraduate and graduate students have received these various awards/grants and demonstrate the importance that the NEACSM and DNC Endowment leadership places on supporting students, their education, research, and career goals. 

Each year the following awards/grants are given out at the annual Fall Meeting and are also supported financially by the DNC Student Endowment: 
Doctoral Student Investigator Award for $1,000
Master Student Investigator Award for $1,000
Undergraduate Student Investigator Award for $1,000
Undergraduate Research Experience Grants (up to 3 each for $1,000) *

That retirement dinner back in 2000 helped raise around $4,500. With a grass roots effort in fundraising efforts over the years, with the financial support of over 225 donors to date, the Camaione Family, and of the NEACSM, the growth of the Endowment has been simply remarkable and has allowed the Camaione Student Endowment to meet its primary focus in benefiting students in their professional career development in the areas of Medicine and Science in Sport and Exercise. To date, the Endowment has underwritten over $50,000 in student activities, including previous student luncheons at the annual fall meeting, and currently funds ~$10,000 per year to support student development through the monetary support of scholarships, awards, research grants, and providing monies for the winners of the annual College Bowl competition paying for their travel, registration, and housing expenses to attend the national convention.  

 

Access a complete list of donors to the Camaione fund.

The goal of the Camaione Family in establishing the original Endowment was to honor and recognize Dr. Camaione’s exceptional passion and service to NEACSM.  They felt a fitting way to honor him was to offer opportunities to support young professionals in their career growth and saw NEACSM as perfect vehicle to do so.  NEACSM has been an enthusiastic champion of this Endowment and the collaborative efforts between these two groups (NEACSM and the DNC Student Endowment) in growing the Endowment have been exceptional.  The Camaione Family articulates it well when they state, “Though this growth was unexpected, it is an appropriate and fulfilling way to see a project blossom. We have always known how blessed we are as a family, but we are reminded by the blessing of NEACSM to our family, to our father, and to bright and promising students.” 

*Access a full list of NEACSM Scholarship, Award, & Grant recipients.