What is it like to be a published author?  Sahil Khan, a 17-year-old Summit Alum, can answer that question.

Sahil began attending Summit when he was three, and he graduated with the 8th grade class of 2017. He is now a student at Desert Vista High School and is the author of the book The Potential Of Physics. His book is currently available on Amazon. In it, Sahil tackles complex subjects like time travel, wormholes, black holes, teleportation, and quantum computing. Sahil is not yet sure where he will attend university, but he hopes to study either Physics or Computer Science. When asked when he developed a love of physics, he stated, “Around middle-school. I just liked math a lot but wanted to apply it. I liked using math in different scenarios, and my interest just developed over time. I have been doing a lot of research on my own since 8th grade. Not a lot of people know about black holes and astrophysics, and I wanted to broaden people’s prospectives. I thought maybe if I could explain physics in an entertaining way, some people might like to read about it.” Explaining physics was the easy part because Sahil had done a lot of research and knew what he wanted to write about, but he didn’t actually start out intending to write a book. “My research was just a fun side project, and it became bigger and bigger.” In the end, he figured, “Since I put so much work into this project, I might as well publish it.” Sahil did encounter some challenges. He said that the illustrations were difficult for him because he is a “terrible artist.” Eventually, he found that he was able to use Photoshop to aid in illustrating his book. He also noted, “Finding citations to back up what I wrote was difficult. Who is going to believe a 17-year-old without proof?” Sahil’s parents have been his biggest supporters. He shared, “They encouraged me to keep going, and the book wouldn’t be what it is today without them.”

Andrea Yocum, Sahil’s middle school science teacher, proudly stated, “Sahil was a curious and driven student.  He loved to be challenged and to push himself to complete more in-depth and challenging concepts, especially in physics, his 8th grade year.  He was never afraid to ask questions or to seek answers so that he could learn anything and everything about science and its application.”

Sahil’s advice to current Summit students, “Explore what you are passionate about and don’t be afraid. It wasn’t my end goal to write a book. My goal was to do something that I enjoyed because it was fun for me.”

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