Marquis Campbell was a quick-witted kid with an impeccable sense of style, an aptitude for math and a tight bond with his mother, his teachers said Friday.
Marquis, a 15-year-old student at Oliver Citywide Academy, was shot and killed in a van outside the school Wednesday afternoon. Although police said they were looking into two masked individuals who were in the area at the time of the shooting, no one has been charged as of Friday afternoon. Many of the details remain unknown.
Interviews with Marquis’ former teachers at the school, a Pittsburgh Public Schools full-time special education center in Marshall-Shadeland, painted a portrait of a young teen who quick with a joke and close with his family.
“He was a creative, kindhearted boy who was well-loved and loved others,” Karen Marcinko, who taught Marquis in grades four and five.
As a young student, Marquis enjoyed hands-on activities such as art projects, coloring and puzzles. But it was his love for math, a subject Ms. Marcinko taught, that stood out to her.
“He was always very proud of the accomplishments he made in math,” she said. “He would want to help his peers a lot. He would finish an assignment, and he would be the first one to want to help.”
Marquis also put a lot of effort into making his mother proud of his academics and conduct, proudly bringing her positive daily reports from Ms. Marcinko’s class. “It was always really important to him that she knew when he was doing well in school,” she recalled.
His close relationship with his mom and his drive to make her proud has been what Ms. Marcinko has been thinking about most since his death.
Popular, well-liked and often seen with a smile, Marquis developed close relationships with his classmates as he continued through school at Oliver, which serves students in grades 3-12.
“The students that he was primarily with, he was with for several years,” said Georgiann Kearns, Marquis’ middle school English teacher. She said the group was like its own version of a school family.
He was also known to his teachers as a stylish dresser.
“I remember our fifth-grade graduation. He just looked wonderful,” Ms. Marcinko said.
“He was always very ‘sharp looking,’ as my father would say,” Scott Needy, Marquis’ middle school homeroom teacher, said. “The kids would always say how ‘fly’ he was. He took great pride in how he looked and of the things he was wearing.”
In middle school, Marquis remained an eager student who enjoyed working with others and had excellent attendance.
Mr. Needy’s math class would generally begin with him warming the students up before getting into teaching and group work. Marquis was often ready to jump into the lesson as soon as possible.
“He would always be like, ‘OK, I have my warmup. When are you going to start? When are we going to start, Mr. Needy?’ ” he said. “I would be like, ‘Well, I’m going to give everybody else a couple of minutes.’ ” But Marquis was ready to get into the next thing.
With a tight-knit class, the students would let their jokes fly at each other with good-natured teasing, or what they referred to as “razzing,” Mr. Needy said.
Marquis delighted in it. “He would have the biggest smile, not because he was gleefully enjoying saying something mean about someone. He was just having fun in the interaction,” he said.
Although Marquis was happy to tease, he was never insensitive or a class clown, Ms. Kearns said. “He had the ability to read the room,” she said. “He knew the time to joke, the time not to joke and the way to joke.”
The teachers interviewed by the Post-Gazette all expressed shock and disbelief at the fatal violence that took Marquis’ life.
Ms. Marcinko, a teacher for 31 years, said she’s never gone through an experience that left her fearing for the safety of her students like this.
“I’ve learned to expect the unexpected the past two years,” she said, referring to the COVID-19 pandemic. “The importance of creating a secure and welcoming and nurturing learning environment is more important now than ever. And this really shook that.”
“Whether it’s Marquis or another kid, it’s devastating and it’s heartbreaking,” Ms. Kearns said. “And it’s scary for anybody in any position.”
Mr. Needy, who typically teaches at the high school, had Marquis in his first middle school classroom. Although he said the transition was tough, he credits Marquis and his classmates with making him a better educator.
“I’m sad that he’s gone, but I really appreciate that I did know him, and that I had that gift from him,” Mr. Needy said. “Because he was really sweet, pleasant and, actually, he was a lot of fun. He was so much fun, and I’m going to miss that.”
Mick Stinelli: mstinelli@post-gazette.com; 412-263-1869; and on Twitter: @MickStinelli
First Published: January 21, 2022, 10:13 p.m.
