Dustin Baker treats school like a job. From 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. each week for the last four years, he spent all of his time during the week outside of class doing homework and studying. Although he wanted to do well in his classes, the agribusiness management senior never made it a goal to achieve a perfect grade-point average, or GPA, and left weekends for experiencing student life at MSU.
“I wanted to do as well as I could in my classes, but I wasn’t focused on achieving a 4.0,” Baker said. “I wanted to have fun and get involved in everything I could.”
Although it might not have been part of his original goal for his time at MSU, in about a week and a half, Baker and 36 other seniors are on track to graduate with 4.0’s from MSU, with each receiving a $1,000 scholarship from the MSU Board of Trustees for their hard work.
MSU Trustee Melanie Foster said it is the largest number of students to graduate with a 4.0 in MSU history.
12 of the colleges on campus had students with perfect GPAs, and the College of Social Science had the most with seven students, although many students double majored.
“I’m really proud of the student body at MSU to produce so many outstanding academians in this class who are all going on to what seems to be very exciting and challenging futures,” she said.
Physiology and human biology senior Chaun Gandolfo, who was recognized along with the other students at the meeting about two weeks ago, said he was caught off guard when he first received the email that he would be receiving the scholarship. He said he never really told people about his high GPA, and many people did not know he did so well in his courses.
“It was a surprise, but it was a really nice feeling,” he said. “All of us have worked really hard, so it was nice to be recognized by the university for it.”
Gandolfo, who earned his degrees in three years, said he was valedictorian of his high school and figured he might as well try to set a similar goal when he first came to MSU.
“I wasn’t so worried about it at the beginning, but toward the end, when you’re going for the perfect grade, it becomes more stressful to get that 4.0,” he said.
Both Gandolfo and Baker were involved in a variety of activities on campus.
Gandolfo was a resident mentor in Holmes Hall the past two years, participated in the Lyman Briggs Student Advisory Council and did research with professors. Baker was a member of the Alpha Gamma Rho fraternity, volunteered for Big Brothers Big Sisters, served on the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources Student Senate and attended many sporting events on campus, including basketball games and football games.
Chaun said the variety of majors that had 4.0 students is a testament to MSU’s strength as a university.
“MSU is a good place for students to succeed in their own way,” he said. “What I like is that at MSU, everyone is able to do well in their own subject.”
Support student media!
Please consider donating to The State News and help fund the future of journalism.
Discussion
Share and discuss “University awards $1,000 to seniors with 4.0 grade-point average” on social media.
