Develop Your Story
Ready to write your own story, but not sure how to begin? Start with these writing prompts:
- A shining moment
- A time you persisted through failure
- How you grew from a summer experience
- A mentor who encouraged you to be who you are today
- Your STEM story—how did you get into STEM?
Model Stories
Sometimes it helps to see how others have shaped their experiences into meaningful narratives. Below are two examples from Rose-Hulman faculty members to inspire you as you develop your own story.
- Dr. Ben Jelen – Law of Diminishing Returns (Audio)
- Dr. Michelle Marincel Payne – Impact of a Mentor (Video)
Each story highlights a moment of transformation, reflection, and connection—showing how powerful even a single experience can be when shared. As you listen or watch, notice the boundaries of the story, the transformation at its core, and the details that make it memorable.
Your story does not have to be perfect or polished—it just has to be yours. Let these examples guide you as you begin writing and sharing your own STEM journey.
What makes a story compelling?
Your own STEM story is about transformation. Before the experience, you were someone who didn’t know about STEM, or didn’t realize how cool STEM is, or didn’t know that STEM would be your future. Once the event takes place, you are on the road towards your current STEM career. And the same features that make your own STEM story memorable are the same features that we can use to help students develop their stories.
Three ingredients help make stories compelling and memorable:
- Focus on a moment or scene: Put boundaries around the life snippet by picking the slice you want to share. Then, describe the “scene.”
- Describe the transformation: Make transformation the focus of your story. The hard decision, struggle, or mistake can be the context, but make the story about what you learned, or what changed about you or others. Maybe you found relief from anxiety, clarity from confusion, meaning after experiencing chaos.
- Include memorable details: Include lots of emotions and details to make your story interesting and “stick.” Help your listener see what you saw, hear what you heard, feel what you were feeling. Give enough details so we can imagine the setting and emotions. Put us into your shoes!
Once you write a first draft of your story, tell it to a friend and ask them these questions:
- Does your story have clear boundaries?
- Is it about a specific slice of time?
- Does your story have transformation?
- As obvious as it may sound, something has to happen in your story.
Without transformation, your story is just an anecdote. How many sticky details does your story have? Stories are most compelling when they have lots of sticky details. You can always take details out—try to stuff as many in as possible. Revise your story to make it more compelling, memorable, and impactful.