Water Resources People and Issues
Later, there was an examination at Hopkins for Maryland state scholarships
which were under the control of the state senators. Although I placed high
enough on the exam to earn a full scholarship, when the time came, I didn't get
the scholarship that I had earned, but I had good enough marks that I got what
they called a trustees' scholarship, which paid half of my tuition and books. I
had to work part time to get enough money to pay the rest of the tuition, I
worked under what they called the NYA, National Youth Administration. You
worked about 40 hours a month for a very nominal sum which was then applied
to tuition.
When I decided to enroll at Hopkins my brother, being 10 years older and
having had a rough time of it, said, "You must take electrical engineering
because that's where the future is." And I said, "Yes, I guess you're right."
However, because I didn't get that scholarship right away, I didn't enroll right
away. In fact, it was two weeks after school had started that I got the call from
the dean who said, "The trustees have gone over your record and they've given
you this scholarship and this NYA job." So I came in and I found that I had
already been enrolled in civil engineering, which was based on my original
preference as stated on my application. I knew full well that electrical
engineering was where the jobs were, but I was enrolled in civil engineering
and they had my class schedule all worked out for me. The class schedule for
engineering was pretty well defined, and it was a civil engineering course
which included surveying. Of course, that's what I was interested in. So that's
really what directed my career-I got to be a civil engineer because of my
interest in maps and surveying. One of the other things I think that had a big
effect on my career was the fact that because of my weak leg I couldn't
participate in sports as much as the other boys. My leg was not very strong
after the first operation and my foot turned over when I ran.
When I was in the fourth grade, I had another operation in which they inserted
another bone in my foot which kept it from turning over. After that, I could
run and play ball and do things like that, and take long walks. Before that, I
couldn't and so I was doing a lot of reading, even in those early years because
that's what our family did. The whole house was full of books of all kinds and
I did a lot of reading. My sister also brought her books home from school, and
I used to read her books three years ahead of the rest of my class, so when I
got to most of my classes, I was well prepared and didn't have to study much.
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