Mechanical Pencils by Parsa

Mechanical Pencils by Parsa - February 2026 Scholarship Essay

My fingers glide over cool brass facets, rolling the hexagonal body across my desk until I find the perfect angle.
Click—just enough lead to write
.
Beginning every study session with this small ritual, adjusting my mechanical pencil before I start, has become the habit that grounds my academic life.

The pencil is a Rotring-800, a German mechanical pencil that anchors my work, whether I’m proving De Morgan’s laws or solving eigenvector problems in Discrete Math and Linear Algebra class.

But the routine began years earlier, when my friend Farbod gave me a dark green Faber-Castell TK Fine Vario L on my last day in Iran before I immigrated to the United States.

What started as appreciation for a gift became a practice of intentionality. Before I tackle a difficult concept, I pause. I align the pencil. I click the lead forward. That brief moment forces me to slow down and approach problems with precision rather than panic.

Over time, this tiny routine reshaped how I learn. Instead of rushing through calculus integrals in my summer Math 261 course, I worked methodically. Instead of skimming thermodynamics problems, I broke them into deliberate steps while tutoring students for the U.S. National Chemistry Olympiad in our Chemistry Club. The pencil didn’t solve the equations for me; but the mindset it triggered did.

As an immigrant, much of my life changed overnight: language, school system, even the small comforts of familiar bookstores. The one constant was this habit: sit down, adjust the pencil, begin. It became a reminder that I could create steadiness even when everything else felt uncertain.

People often ask what’s different about America compared to Iran. I usually mention academic opportunities. What I don’t say is that success, for me, has come from something far smaller: a two-second pause before I start working. That pause turns overwhelm into intention.
It’s just a mechanical pencil. But the habit it represents, slowing down, preparing carefully, and beginning with purpose, has made all the difference.