The Importance of Scholarship Beyond Grades

While scholarship is one of the most important pillars of Delta Sigma Pi, the word scholarship itself has meaning that stretches far beyond just academic success. Scholarship is defined as academic study or achievement or as the learning and development of a high level skill or knowledge. In college, we often equate scholarship as simply striving for good grades and studying for hours and hours in the library or wherever you can find a desk and a quiet place. However, at least for me, it has a much more complex meaning and an exceptional role in my motivation and actions.

I personally believe that if you are not devoting yourself and putting in an adequate level of effort when doing something, that you are not only letting others down but you are letting yourself down. It is easy for us to accomplish tasks and maybe learn something along the way, but the true definition of scholarship does not become applicable until we put in the extra amount of time to truly understand complex ideas and tasks. Forming this in-depth understanding helps us both with future tasks and in life as a whole. This type of scholarship is the one that Delta Sigma Pi and other fraternities alike are trying to foster. Knowledge is one of the intangibles in life that others can never take away or confiscate and, by feeding and growing this wealth of knowledge, we can learn so much about ourselves and what we desire from our lives.

Scholarship has such a wide array of meanings and interpretations and can be applied in so many different aspects of our lives. I try to apply a sense of scholarship in each aspect of my life. For example, it can be as simple as researching a topic that you are interested in, regardless of if it is a field that you plan to enter or an opportunity you want to pursue. Researching and learning about something that is foreign to and outside of our particular realm of expertise can be a refreshing change from the day-to-day routine. Also, developing this external knowledge can help us bring new ideas to the table. As someone who grew up in a small town and worked for a family owned business, it has been particularly easy for me to learn about several different things and to expand my knowledge in a variety of areas. It can be as simple as asking your parents about how something works or why they are doing things in a particular fashion. It is also a great tool to be able know how to use mechanical skills and intuition at the same time. All of this can arise from making scholarship a priority in your life.

I would say the main aspect of scholarship is to always remain curious and take an active role in your learning. College is the prime time to develop a wide arrange of skills, and we have a lot of resources at our fingertips. We should let scholarship be the main driver in our lives so that we can find several things that we are passionate about. This passion helps us drive our lives and assists us in measuring what we know and what we want to learn. If we were to neglect this idea of scholarship, it would make life much more bland and we would miss out on so much.