ADRIANA DROPULIC
Senior, Georgetown Visitation School
ADRIANA DROPULIC'S UNQUENCHABLE thirst for knowledge about the universe led her to make a bold move: She sent her résumé and transcript to the director general of CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, asking for an internship in its summer program—even though the position was intended for top college students. She got the internship and spent part of last summer in Switzerland delving into particle physics with about 200 undergraduates.
“CERN was definitely the hardest academic challenge I had faced to date,” says Adriana, 17, of North Bethesda. “I was in awe at what these people are doing, what they’re discovering and how they’re discovering it.”
During her three weeks at CERN, Adriana spent eight-hour days analyzing data from previous particle collision experiments, teaching herself a complicated computer language and attending lectures. She sorted and graphed 2,000 pieces of data that she used on her last day there to confirm the existence of a specific particle in a collision.
Adriana’s mother, an infectious disease specialist at the National Institutes of Health, and father, a biologist for a biotechnology company that’s developing gene therapeutics, have fostered a love of science since she 
was young. Adriana’s science fair project in her sophomore year, which used bacteria found in soil to power an LED light, took second place in the environmental sciences category at the D.C. Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Fair and the top award from The American Society of Mechanical Engineers.
Quillian Haralson, her science fair project adviser and honors chemistry teacher during sophomore year, says Adriana has an eagerness to learn and doesn’t accept everything at face value. “She tries to dive a little deeper and understand,” says Haralson, adding that Adriana often stayed after class to further her understanding of a science topic.
Adriana says she plans to focus on science in college, but hasn’t decided on a particular field. “I’m definitely going to take some physics classes wherever I go,” she says
Photos by Michael Ventura
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