When junior Christina Juste is sitting at her desk in her honors biology or AP chemistry classes, she often has a super focused look on her face.

That’s because she’s consuming all the information she can. “I have a lot of questions,” she said. “And I feel like science is a good way to get my answers.”

Christina feels especially drawn to the way science is built on a foundation of evidence and proof along with organization and classification of information. And then there is the joy of putting on her goggles in chemistry class “and feeling so sciency and professional.”

“I just love science because you are learning something new every day,” she said, breaking into a large smile.

Christina first realized that science was important to her during a trip to a creek in eighth grade, while she was a student at Cedarbrook Middle School. “We went to watch animals, and it was so interesting to me. There were all these different types of life that were living in one ecosystem,” she said. That fascination, along with the fact that several members of her family are in the medical field, has led her to say about science: “This is the thing I want to do.”

Christina, who enrolled in AFS in ninth grade, has needed to spend many extra hours studying for her AP chemistry class, but she’s up to the challenge. “Even though AP chem is the hardest class I’ve ever taken in my entire life, I will sit in my room for hours and hours until I get it,” she said.

“And the fun part of science is that no one really gets it. We’re all working together to try to understand how the world works,” she said.

Christina’s parents were born in Haiti, and as a first-generation American, she speaks Haitian-Creole as well as English. She’s hoping to take a pre-med course in college and minor in Spanish “because a trilingual doctor would be amazing and could reach and help more people.”

Christina is outspoken about the need for more women to be involved in STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) research. “I want to break those boundaries. I’m all about breaking those boundaries,” she said.

The hallways at Abington Friends are brimming with students who are on a journey, exploring fresh ideas and pursuing deep interests as they search to find their places in the world. Their eyes shine as they talk fervently about wanting to learn all they can in a field of academics, athletics or the arts.

Read more about “The Discoverers” in the Fall/Winter 2016 issue of Oak Leaves.