Curiosityoterian
noun
a student, typically having the highest level of curiosity in the senior class, who sits listening to the valedictorian speech graduation and wonders how the podium can stay attached to the stage when the earth itself is spinning at a rate 1,040 miles per hour and wonders if the issue of boxers vs. briefs has every been statistically explored with valedictorians.
Okay – “curiosityoterian” is not a real word. But I am so behind the idea that in addition to the smartest kid in the class being honored, I do wish they would be able to also honor the kid that has proven his/her thorough and rich curiosity.
As a fellow valedictorian myself I know the actual work that goes into outpacing yourself in every single class for four years. There wasn’t a test, quiz or essay that was going to escape my mastery. I knew the system. I could play the system. I was able to give them exactly what they were looking for and likely a full day before they wanted it. And – – I also remember watching those peers of mine who played the piano, painted, or even stood on our high school stage acting away – – and I remember being a bit smug and mean-spirited thinking that there GPA would never reach the shadow of my GPA. It was most easy to dismiss them climbing the academic ladder.
However, if I was honest, I would also own my jealousy in their creation of something that made no sense, achieved no goal, served no purpose and yet was beautiful. I was taking everything given and putting the pieces together. I could regurgitate facts and figures flawlessly, but the ideas had to be there FIRST for me. I didn’t come up WITH the ideas. How did that work?
I can’t help but imagine that so many of the most successful adults out there did not come from the ranks of valedictorians but from the ranks of those students who cared less about the GPA game but were mesmerized and attracted to things that were not yet there, things others would call doodles, things made from curiosity.
I admire and celebrate every valedictorian that I have had the pleasure of teaching. (Coincidentally, I am proud to boast that one of my very own theatre students is vying for that title this very year.) He is a remarkable young man, and will undoubtably be a big success wherever his path leads, BUT I hope he never sells out his academic prowess for some good ol’ home-cooked curiosity.