HaranAn
2 days ago
Undergraduate / Star names - Personal Essay on CommonApp Qs. 6 [2]
"Can I know the names of those stars?" That was the question that came out of a child's mouth. That child has now grown up, with her love for the stars continuing to grow like the roots of a tree, stronger with age.
If people have their first love, mine is the stars. I often sneaked quietly onto the roof of my house at night when the sky was clear, just to gaze at them. I memorized their positions, even without knowing their names. When someone asked, "Why do you love stars that much?" I wouldn't know how to respond. It feels as if I was born to love the stars. I love them without reason, yet I could say countless things about why they captivate me.
The more I read, the more I understand how learning stars means learning history. By looking at the stars, we are looking at the past. Take the sun, the closest star to Earth. Its light takes eight minutes to arrive. Which means the sunlight we enjoy, actually, is the sunlight from eight minutes ago!
There was a time when my enjoyment of the stars diminished. I even forgot that stars were my first love. One night, a massive blackout occurred. I was walking home when my feet stopped, my eyes fixed upward, and I wasn't moving. The night sky was so clear, not a single cloud. For the first time, I saw so many stars. They weren't twinkling, they were shining. Just like diamonds. I fell in love with the stars all over again.
Because it began with reading, I eventually grew to love writing. I wrote numerous mystery novels, and through writing, I realized something: the more I write, the more I have to research deeply, until, without realizing it, I began studying data to complete my characters. Not long after, I started studying data more seriously. Not as a writer, but as a curious girl who suddenly became interested in data.
Slowly, I understood. It all began with the stars. Observing stars means observing patterns. Just like history, it's all about patterns, how those patterns become data, and then tell a story.
I remember when creating a character's name for my novel. I used my own name, then there's Anka. Thought it was a beautiful name, so I used it everywhere, even in all my game nicknames. A year later, one night, I was studying star patterns using a recognition app. Stopped when I saw a beautiful constellation: Phoenix. In it, there was the brightest star. I froze, staring at my phone to make sure I wasn't mistaken. The star's name is Ankaa. I couldn't put into words how happy I was. My name was among the stars. I was delighted, yet I had nobody to share it with. Then realized that I had never met anyone who loved stars the way I do.
All this time, whenever I wanted to learn more about stars, only books and articles were my refuge. Whenever I was excited about a new fact, I would just tell whoever happened to be around me.
Now, old enough to determine the course of my life, I already know where I am heading. Still, everything about me always traces back to the stars. The same curiosity I once used to understand the sky, I now use to understand the world. Studying stars has trained me to search for patterns in vast and complex systems. That curiosity did not stop at the night sky; I carry it into other fields. As I analyze more often, data feels like my constellation, each point holding a story about markets, people, and opportunities. Just like the stars, data teaches me: behind complexity, there is always a pattern waiting to be found.
Both stars and data have taught me that within complexity, there are patterns guiding us toward deeper understanding.
"Can I know the names of those stars?" That was the question that came out of a child's mouth. That child has now grown up, with her love for the stars continuing to grow like the roots of a tree, stronger with age.
If people have their first love, mine is the stars. I often sneaked quietly onto the roof of my house at night when the sky was clear, just to gaze at them. I memorized their positions, even without knowing their names. When someone asked, "Why do you love stars that much?" I wouldn't know how to respond. It feels as if I was born to love the stars. I love them without reason, yet I could say countless things about why they captivate me.
The more I read, the more I understand how learning stars means learning history. By looking at the stars, we are looking at the past. Take the sun, the closest star to Earth. Its light takes eight minutes to arrive. Which means the sunlight we enjoy, actually, is the sunlight from eight minutes ago!
There was a time when my enjoyment of the stars diminished. I even forgot that stars were my first love. One night, a massive blackout occurred. I was walking home when my feet stopped, my eyes fixed upward, and I wasn't moving. The night sky was so clear, not a single cloud. For the first time, I saw so many stars. They weren't twinkling, they were shining. Just like diamonds. I fell in love with the stars all over again.
Because it began with reading, I eventually grew to love writing. I wrote numerous mystery novels, and through writing, I realized something: the more I write, the more I have to research deeply, until, without realizing it, I began studying data to complete my characters. Not long after, I started studying data more seriously. Not as a writer, but as a curious girl who suddenly became interested in data.
Slowly, I understood. It all began with the stars. Observing stars means observing patterns. Just like history, it's all about patterns, how those patterns become data, and then tell a story.
I remember when creating a character's name for my novel. I used my own name, then there's Anka. Thought it was a beautiful name, so I used it everywhere, even in all my game nicknames. A year later, one night, I was studying star patterns using a recognition app. Stopped when I saw a beautiful constellation: Phoenix. In it, there was the brightest star. I froze, staring at my phone to make sure I wasn't mistaken. The star's name is Ankaa. I couldn't put into words how happy I was. My name was among the stars. I was delighted, yet I had nobody to share it with. Then realized that I had never met anyone who loved stars the way I do.
All this time, whenever I wanted to learn more about stars, only books and articles were my refuge. Whenever I was excited about a new fact, I would just tell whoever happened to be around me.
Now, old enough to determine the course of my life, I already know where I am heading. Still, everything about me always traces back to the stars. The same curiosity I once used to understand the sky, I now use to understand the world. Studying stars has trained me to search for patterns in vast and complex systems. That curiosity did not stop at the night sky; I carry it into other fields. As I analyze more often, data feels like my constellation, each point holding a story about markets, people, and opportunities. Just like the stars, data teaches me: behind complexity, there is always a pattern waiting to be found.
Both stars and data have taught me that within complexity, there are patterns guiding us toward deeper understanding.
