Write it Down! by Rinnah

Write it Down! by Rinnah - July 2026 Scholarship Essay

Page by page, I looked up every word I didn’t know and every person I didn’t recognize as I read The Order of Time by Carlo Rovelli, jotting them in a new grey journal. I’d found the book while strolling through the science section of the library, and quickly realized it was far above my reading level. Still, I was captivated as Rovelli dismantled my understanding of time, detailed the principles of “loop quantum gravity,” and described a world where time might not exist. As if the physics weren’t confusing enough, he grounded each theory in philosophical ideals. I felt like a mad scientist scribbling down terms that stubbornly refused to conceptualize in my head. By the last page, I thought my journal and my knowledge of F=ma could solve quantum mechanics(I couldn’t).

That book began the grey journal of my eighth-grade summer. Its pages are filled with my notes from Rovelli’s book, and the rest record my curious tangents: research on Cassiopeia, the first constellation I identified; random Boeing plane specifications I noted while traveling; pages have spirals from when I first discovered the fibonacci sequence; and embarrassing questions I probably should’ve known the answer to. Many entries dissect black holes and relativity after late-night Neil Degrasse Tyson rabbit holes. Others are riddles or thoughts that made me stare off for too long, like “Do flies feel pain?”

That journal became a form of freedom because I wasn’t afraid to be wrong and I never doubted whether an idea was worth writing. As the pages of the journal filled, I was determined to follow a path that allowed me to foster my creative thinking. That answer was a STEM career. I was interested in a field that allowed me to unravel secrets through observation and complex thought. STEM releases my mind to ponder on the many ways a problem can be solved, and take account of every aspect needed to solve that issue. STEM provides an opportunity for me to not shy away from curiosity.