More Than Just a Grade by Corbin

More Than Just a Grade by Corbin - October 2019 Scholarship Essay

I recently learned about Jonas Salk, the creator of the first polio vaccine. Academically, he excelled and even finished school early by skipping grade levels. What inspires me about Dr. Salk is that he valued intellectual curiosity over making a high grade, as evident in his quote, “As a child I was not interested in science. I was merely interested in things human.”

Before hearing this, I struggled with balancing my own intellectual curiosity with G.P.A. focus. In class, I found myself interested in certain topics but was often frustrated when we only slightly touched upon them. For example, in my English class, we read “The Crucible,” by Arthur Miller. One of our essay prompts was to provide examples of how the author used fear to control people. I was able to reference many examples, but I found it interesting just how much fear does affect people in the real world and how others can use that fear to control them.

Unfortunately, the burden of class assignments and extracurricular activities limits my ability to explore academic topics much beyond what is required for earning a grade, but I hope that higher education will offer more depth of study to satisfy my intellectual curiosity. In this way, I hope to follow Dr. Salk's inspirational example.