Student Remarker York to Stress Service, Responsibility

In some ways Andrew York is like many recent University Student Government Association (USGA) presidents and in some ways he is different.

By Chris Zang
April 30, 2012

In some ways Andrew York is like many recent University Student Government Association (USGA) presidents and in some ways he is different. The mix of the two should provide an interesting speech when he serves as student remarker at the University of Maryland’s commencement on May 18.

This will be the sixth straight year the student remarker has come from either the School of Pharmacy or what is now called the Francis King Carey School of Law. But York comes from both. He will receive his PharmD this month and his JD in 2013.

And his geographic preference for where he wants to start his professional career may be different than any student remarker in the University’s 205-year existence—Pine Ridge, South Dakota, the poorest area with the worst health outcomes in the country, he says.

“I hope to serve there in the Indian Health Service for the clinical portion of my career,” says York, a native Marylander, “and then, eventually, return back to this area to work on health care policy.”

York can see why pharmacy and law are so well-represented in the USGA. “Both the School of Pharmacy and the law school strongly support student activities and student leadership,” he says, “Both have formal classes in leadership, extremely strong student groups, and their own mature, well-developed structures of student government. This provides an environment that is perfect for developing future leaders and officers of the USGA.”

He singled out 2008 USGA president Jessica O’Kane, a School of Pharmacy alumna, for praise. “I still consider Jessie to be a personal hero of mine and I use her as a model of an ideal student president,” York says. “During my first year here, she mentored me as a USGA senator and I would say that her influence set my path from then until now.”

A USGA senator for two years, vice president for two years, and now president, York is ready to step up to the big stage, even if he is “far from being where I want to be” as a speaker.

The theme of his address?

“Service,” he says, “the responsibility that comes with being awarded a professional degree. When the students here graduate, they become professionals and their highest obligation is to serve their patients and clients. There is a lot that comes with that higher standard that our students are expected to uphold, and I hope to share a few lessons that my colleagues can use in serving their patients and their communities.”