Miami Quarterly

Issue date: 2/9/09 Section: News

Jason Toth is the first to confess that he failed pre-calculus his first year at Miami. Now a senior, the supply chain management major and Pi Sigma Epsilon's Vice President of Social Responsibility looks back on that "F" as a turning point. His changed attitude is contributing to Miami's bicentennial celebration in a big way.

"I failed and thought it was the end of the world. I'd tried so hard … I used to be ashamed of failing," Toth says.

But he realizes now that the class was a moment where failure could've "consumed my life or made me stronger."

It obviously did the latter for Toth, who created PSE's Bicentennial Scholarship for one sophomore, one junior and one senior who exemplify the Miami mission statement. The $1,809 award will be presented to three students during the bicentennial year and is composed of money raised by Toth and junior scholarship committee members Chris Brown and Melissa Daley. But this scholarship will never ask for a GPA.

The catch? There isn't one. Toth is spending his senior year raising the scholarship money by selling T-shirts PSE designed and marketed. Inspired by his upcoming job in logistics with Target, he has realized that college is not all about grades, and students without the highest GPAs are the unrecognized heart of the university.

"Successful people keep saying I'm doing the right thing [by focusing on extracurriculars]. Lessons I'm learning can't be matched elsewhere. That's when I knew I was doing something right," Toth said.

Daley says she knew the project would work when Toth presented it to PSE because "we always hear about famous people who were college dropouts … and some of the students who affect the community in other ways [than academics] aren't recognized."

Should the students surpass their fundraising goal of $6,000, they plan to donate the rest of the money to Miami's Bicentennial Student Center. Dean of Students Dr. Susan Mosley-Howard consulted the President's office to help jumpstart the scholarship project financially, which she calls " a very worthwhile project that exemplified to me the best of what Miami students do."

"What's neat about the idea is that students aren't at Miami if not in good standing, but it holds up what Miami has always said is important - intellect and co-curricular involvement, giving back and being a good citizen," she says. "I appreciate the way they looked at the Miami value statement … it's neat that they had that foresight."

Brown is a living example of the mission of the scholarship. A transfer student from the University of Toledo with a 4.0 GPA, he says he had focused "strictly on grades" but was inspired by Toth's initiative. After hearing Toth's story, he got involved with PSE and the scholarship project and has learned lessons he wouldn't necessarily have learned in the classroom.

"I have seen my GPA drop quite a bit, but for me it's [about] communicating with authority, setting up connections and getting stuff done through people you don't know," he says. "Good students are aware of opportunities outside the classroom; that's the symbolism of the scholarship."

Toth is also working to unite student organizations to contribute to the cause, such as Delta Sigma Pi. He is also utilizing other students in the production of the shirt, which is made by Edun Live. At $12 per shirt, which PSE is buying for $7.25, it has been a long road in fundraising, but they have sold hundreds so far.

"All the money we will give back to the school or the students," Toth says of his project, which he would like to make annual.

The scholarships are being distributed to recipients after Spring Break.

"[It's] going to be sweet, sweet success because we started this from scratch," says Toth. "It started as an idea and we molded it together."

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