Joseph Sabik, MD, graduated with degrees from MIT and Harvard Medical School. But when he was a kid, you couldn’t pay him to get good grades. Literally. His father tried.
Dr. Sabik told the annual meeting of the Durfee High School Alumni Association last month that he and his sister were offered 75 cents for every A on their report card, a quarter for every C, and nothing for grades that were lower. On the first grading period, his sister came away with $7, while young Joseph Sabik pocketed a mere two bits.
Today, Dr. Sabik is chair of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery at Cleveland Clinic, and distinguished graduate of Durfee High School, in Fall River, Massachusetts, which invited him to speak at ceremonies associated with the school’s 2012 graduation.
Dr. Sabik advised 25 young scholarship award winners to take measured risks. “Push yourself out of your comfort zone,” Dr. Sabik said. “I took a risk when I moved to Cleveland, and the move enabled me to be the surgeon I always knew I could be.” Read more of Dr. Sabik’s story and comments here.
