Sabrina Navaretta of Woodbury, a teen with a plan, dies at 19

Sabrina Navaretta was 19 but already had a game plan.

The teen, an honors freshman studying business management at the Alfred Lerner College of Business and Economics at the University of Delaware, was planning on returning to Woodbury after getting her degree. She was to join her mother's real estate firm, Homes By Mara Realty in Syosset, learn about the business and eventually take over the company.

Last summer, she obtained a real estate license and over the winter break watched her mother work open houses. She had it all planned out.

A crash changed it all.

Navaretta died on April 28 after the car she was riding in as a passenger was struck by another vehicle near campus in Newark.

Her parents, John and Mara Navaretta, said they always knew their daughter was “a special kid” but gained even more perspective about her since her funeral, which was held Friday.

“Seeing what everyone has written about her and described her, … we didn't realize how many people she touched in a certain way,” John Navaretta said. “She was just an incredible kid.”

Among those who wrote were her floormates in her dorm, remembering her as a “genuinely happy girl” in a handwritten note given to her family.

“Seeing Sabrina in our dorm every day, there was never a time when she didn’t have a smile on her face,” the schoolmates wrote. “Whether it was a smile in the elevator, or a conversation as we washed our faces next to one another in the bathroom, she always showed us kindness.”

Those who knew Navaretta often called her “an old soul,” a girl who was more mature than her age.

“Most college freshmen had no idea what they wanted to do with their lives and everyone's just trying to make it through the first year,” her college roommate and best friend, Sammy Ford said. “But she already had this whole plan.”

Ford said Navaretta was organized and on top of her schoolwork and social life. Her friend was a genuine person who had a positive influence on those around her. Even though they knew each other less than a year, she felt they had known each other their entire lives.

“She taught me to live life to the fullest,” Ford said of her friend. "She was like an angel on this earth."

Navaretta was born April 3, 2004, in Plainview Hospital and grew up in Woodbury, where her family lives. She graduated in 2022 from Syosset High School.

“She was the most normal person I've ever met,” her mother said. “We all have our emotions, our ups or downs. She was just always steady.”

Throughout her life, her parents said, Navaretta was so disciplined and motivated that they never had to nudge her to do her homework. She had excellent grades and was in the National Honor Society and Italian Honor Society in high school.

And family came first for her.

“She was just not the typical teenager, you know, as they say, never an eye roll,” her father said. “She loved being with us. … She always, always found time for me and Mara.”

Navaretta was also service-minded, her parents said. She organized a clothing drive a few years ago when several families were displaced after a fire in Woodbury. She participated in a dog rescue club and joined beach cleaning.

Navaretta was an avid jet skier and loved fishing and boating, her family said. In high school, she played soccer and volleyball. She also worked as a hostess at Butera's restaurant, a place she would visit when she was home from college on breaks.

“She always, always had a good time and was always up for doing something fun,” her sister, Nicolle Navaretta said. “If any of us were like not feeling great, she always was the one to make us feel better. She's always happy.”

Other than her parents and sister, of Woodbury, Sabrina Navaretta is survived by her brother, Andrew Navaretta, his wife, Ellie, and their daughter, Penelope, of Syosset.

Her family asks donations in her memory be sent to the Sabrina Navaretta Scholarship Fund at 30 Berry Hill Rd. in Syosset. More information can be found at sabnavscholarshipfund.org.

By Dandan Zou

dandan.zou@newsday.com@DandanZou

Dandan Zou covers education for Newsday. Previously, she worked for a community newspaper in Maryland and a personal finance magazine in Washington, D.C.