The Gift of Constructive Criticism: Progress Never Stops by Anthony

The Gift of Constructive Criticism: Progress Never Stops by Anthony - July 2016 Scholarship Essay

Anthony Pannullo
Varsity Tutors College Scholarship Contest
1 July 2016

Dear Varsity Tutors,
My name is Anthony Pannullo, a recent graduate of Ramapo College of New Jersey, and prospective master’s degree candidate at the University of Wisconsin – Green Bay starting this fall. I will be pursuing a M.S. in Sustainable Management. The nature of this decision originates from former educational role models. My professors and previous high school teachers have guided me toward discovering the person that I am. They have unlocked a sense of wonder, passion, and desire for human service. Upon reading the prompt for this scholarship essay, one professor’s advice came to mind immediately.

I have taken Dr. Ashwani Vasishth for both the “Energy & Society” and “Appropriate Technology” courses during my second semester of declaring an Environmental Studies major. Early in the first course, I knew that I would be challenged to achieve my full academic potential at that current point. It was not enough to simply know and recall the information. As environmental advocates, we were expected to become a positive influence within our communities. We were trained with the expectation of pursuing graduate degrees, or writing academic journals for both public interest and research use.

To summarize the greatest semester-long lesson received from Dr. Vasishth, I have learned to accept criticism, to keep improving myself, and to ask for help. Education is a lifelong journey. It does not cease upon graduation. If we have the motivation, we should constantly strive to become experts in our fields while attempting to master new skills and subjects. It is regressive to believe that we are perfect, or that we know everything there is to know about what we do. Although I have achieved an A in both of Dr. Vasishth’s courses, every major paper went through an organized drafting phase. This was an opportunity for us to show Dr. Vasishth that we have a methodical approach to our projects, and that we are developing our assignments in an organized fashion. We would receive useful feedback, and the motivation that we could in fact complete each assignment with nothing less than our best.

I had rarely appreciated the importance of proofreading prior to this. I had always assumed that my first draft would be my best. This was in all probability due to the issue that I rarely took advantage of asking for help, or seeing my work from another point of view. We had no choice in this course, and I am exceptionally thankful for this. I had to accept criticism, and face my weaknesses to overcome them. My additional undergraduate achievements in this major would not exist without this lesson. With graduate school in the future, I am certain that my future achievements will be possible with much gratitude to Dr. Vasishth.

It may seem intimidating to open ourselves up and see where we could do better, but we will not progress or develop our skills and unique passions without facing scrutiny. Dr. Vasishth taught me how to ask questions, and to receive useful constructive criticism. We must ask the right questions to get the right answers. We should not fear our mistakes. Rather, we should embrace the fact that we do not know everything. When we express a small, yet valuable drop of humility while persistently opening ourselves up to criticism, we can only grow in every aspect of our lives.