Rocket Building: Reaching for the Stars with a Growth Mindset by Lucy

Rocket Building: Reaching for the Stars with a Growth Mindset by Lucy - March 2026 Scholarship Essay

When I was in tenth grade, I became a first-time volunteer at CSUSM’s Super STEM Saturday; this was a STEM-themed festival where fellow volunteers and I were tasked with helping young children and their families create rockets out of colorful paper cut outs. Although a more experienced volunteer walked me through the wrapping, taping, and folding I would have to instruct children and their families to do in the rocket-building booth, the situation was still out of my comfort zone—I remember the sense of dread I felt when the volunteer’s shift was over and I was left to handle the rocket-building instruction alone; I felt worried that my inexperience would cause me to do something incompetent.

While I did not transform into a rocket-building savant after the science-themed festival, I nonetheless found the experience worthwhile. There was one interaction that particularly stood out to me: during the festival, an elementary-aged girl and her parents came to my station to receive guidance on how to build a paper rocket. From what I recall, it had been the first time the girl had ever created a paper rocket, so at the beginning of our rocket building session, she told her parents she did "not feel very confident."

Trying to offer reassurance, I also confessed that it was my first time volunteering for Super STEM Saturday; the girl and I shared a common first-time experience, with both of us learning how to build paper rockets that same day.

As her parents and I progressed through helping the girl build the rocket, the girl cheerfully remarked that she was beginning to feel “more confident.”

To this day, I find that moment very touching. In addition to being able to enjoy the satisfaction from knowing that I was able to help boost a child’s confidence in this activity, I can also cherish and internalize a valuable lesson as I reflect on this interaction: knowledge and skills are not fixed but rather flexible, and I therefore am often more capable than I think. During the event, I was basically a first-time volunteer teaching a first-time rocket builder. Thus, common sense may dictate that the situation would not have ended well, and my own lack of experience coupled with the girl’s lack of experience might have led to the creation of a feebly taped rocket made from loose, crumpled sheets of paper. However, by working alongside the parents and tapping into my memory of the rocket-building tutorial I received earlier during the event, I was still able to help design the rocket. My ability to learn and grow allowed me to adapt to the situation. Thus, I can use this experience to remember the importance of having a growth mindset and not underestimating what I am capable of. In other words, my experience with rocket building has shown me that I can reach for the stars by taking advantage of how flexible, as opposed to fixed, knowledge and skills can be so long as I put in the effort.