Possibly no one has taken the lyrics of Country Roads to heart or embodies the spirit of that song more than Sabrina Cave as she has taken her career "home, to the place she belongs."
“It is safe to say I started out my career and my education with WVU and basically loved it so much I never left,” she said.
As the Project Director of Campus Life and Community Relations, Cave oversees and directs the Alumni Foundation and all alumni-related activities at not only the main campus of West Virginia University in Morgantown but also at WVU Potomac State College in Keyser. She said she had no idea as a high school student what her vocation in adulthood would be or where that eventual career path would lead her. She only knew that going to college was in her future. Indeed, Cave went to college – and then stayed there.
“When I was senior at Hampshire High School, faculty members from Potomac State College would come to the high school and teach college courses,” she explained. “So, I took history and English courses. And that gave me an early start on my education. I had 12 college credits before I actually started college.”
When she graduated high school in 1990, she enrolled at WVU in Morgantown with dreams of pursuing her career and her life in the “big city.” Morgantown, she said, was just far enough away that she could experience city life and independence, but the college was not so big and so far away that she couldn’t be “home” when she needed to be.
“I took advantage of everything WVU had to offer,” Cave said. “I am also a first-generation college student. My father passed away when I was young, and I wanted to prove to my mother that I could do this. I remember my mother was so nervous to send her daughter off to the big city of Morgantown.”
While at WVU, Cave became involved with the Mountaineer Parents Club. In fact, she was involved in the founding of the organization, which still exists today. That was her first exposure to organizing a large group of people for a common cause. But it would not be her last.
“Then in 1997, I met my husband, and we had to get big boy and girl jobs,” Cave said.
“I applied for a job back at Potomac State College, and we moved to Burlington. When I was interviewed for that job, one of the people on the interview committee was Jack Reynolds. And Jack had been the one who taught me history for the college credits back in high school.”
Cave was hired as an admissions counselor and recruiter for PSC. Her position involved traveling across the state and into Maryland, Virginia, and Pennsylvania to conduct presentations at high schools in an effort to bring more students to campus. While that department today has four full-time employees, nearly 30 years ago, the only one doing it was Cave.
“I gave all the college tours, and when I wasn’t giving tours, I was at all the high schools. I really did enjoy being able to travel and connect students to Potomac State. That was a wonderful experience. As an admissions counselor, you get to know every department. But in those days, I was the only one out on the road doing that.”
And once again, her former history teacher became involved.
“In 1997, Jack Reynolds was also an assistant basketball coach, and he would ask me about the high schools I was going to, and he had names of students he wanted me to meet. Jack and I had a great partnership.”
Cave said she earned a nickname at that time as the “College Roadrunner.”
“I would sometimes leave my house on Sunday night to travel to where I needed to be for Monday morning. I’d be all over the state all week, get home on Friday just in time to do laundry, pack, and go back out on Sunday night again. And I really loved that. For three months out of every semester, I was always on the road.”
After two years, in 1999, Cave received word that the program she helped found in Morgantown as a student needed a full-time director. Her familiarity with the mechanisms helped her land that job, and she then left the Potomac State College campus and returned to the main WVU campus.
“We learned that if parents feel comfortable about a college, that is where the student will go,” she said. “The goal is to get students out in the world and out of their parents’ basements and into productive lives. It was very exciting to be named director and to be part of that growth and expansion.”
In 2015, Cave became involved in student life and alumni relations at WVU in Morgantown. Her work there then also evolved to include directing alumni activities and communications at Potomac State College.
“I have always had a strong affinity for Potomac State College,” she said. “And through working with (Enrollment Director) Chris Hess, I was asked if I would join the PSC Alumni Association Board of Directors. Since I had taken college courses in high school through PSC, I was considered an alum.”
Among her duties now at PSC is ensuring all alumni are included in announcements and events that happen on the Keyser campus, including Day of Giving, special reunions, commencement activities, and even the upcoming Homecoming scheduled for October 3 this year. Cave is becoming instrumental in inviting and securing members to a special 50-year reunion for the PSC Class of 1976.
“It’s always a bit nostalgic to come back to PSC,” she said.
In fact, Cave has her own personal favorite PSC Homecoming story. It happened just last year, and it involved Jack Reynolds.
“I ran into Jack at a baseball game, and he came up to me and said, ‘Are you still here?’ And then we took a picture together with Coach (Doug) Little,” she said. “It was definitely one more full-circle moment of many I have had. And now I find out that we have those moments all the time with members of the Alumni Association.”
Cave said when she makes visits to the PSC campus, she feels both nostalgic and hopeful.
“PSC gives students a great opportunity to start their career on a small campus with a lot of community support,” she said, “PSC knows its students very well. I remember being in the cafeteria there one morning and hearing a dining services employee ask a student if she wanted the same omelet. That’s how well the campus knows the students and knows what is happening in the students’ lives.”
Cave said PSC’s reputation is spreading as a small college that offers great opportunities.
“I think now the word is getting out,” she said. “PSC is simply a great college. There is a strong community relationship. I think the community and the College understand their partnership and their importance to each other. The College is part of the important history of the community.”
While some may find her story and her educational story interesting and even inspiring, Cave said her “genesis” here is not unique.
“Everyone has a PSC story, and everyone’s story is different. But it all comes down to a common thread that all alum stories have, and that is their love for Potomac State,” she said. “Everyone who goes through PSC has a great and interesting story about their time on campus. Your college experience is based on how involved you become. PSC is good at making sure students get involved, but also, I think we do a good job of keeping the alumni involved. PSC is a proud campus and everyone there has a role in that. I get passionate about alumni because we all share the same experience.”
Cave said her experience just happened to bring her life and career back to where it all started.
“That’s where I got my start. And I love telling people my story. My experience gave me a taste of what college life was like. So yes, I started classes in high school to get college credits at WVU, and I was so impressed with the whole system that it’s very true I never left. And I have to say, that makes me happy.”
WVU Potomac State College is celebrating its 125th birthday this year and recognizing its notable alumni. For more information about the College's milestone, read more here, and purchase a limited-edition commemorative poster here. To register for Homecoming Weekend, Oct. 1-4, sign up here.