State: New Jersey
Years on RSYC: 2021–2026
Adrija is a dynamic changemaker combining her love for science and education to make STEM accessible to all.
Adrija’s initiative, Science4Students, bridges gaps in STEM education by creating opportunities for students facing chronic illnesses and those from under-resourced schools.
Since 2021, Adrija has distributed over 1,000 STEM activity kits to young people in her region. She organized one-on-one STEM lessons for students with chronic illnesses, including building a LEGO-dispensing robot with a middle schooler in California. Adrija has also hosted workshops in Trenton and led activities at the Boys & Girls STEM Conference, introducing students to space science through a NASA iMAP outreach program.
Adrija studies Molecular Biology at her university where she leads the on-campus group that advises students, and paints scenery for South Asian theater productions. She works through the nonprofit Matriculate to advise first generation high schoolers with their college applications, and also conducts research into the impact of early antibiotics on neurodevelopment.
Adrija emphasizes the importance of taking action as she says, “The future is not something we inherit, it is something we build.”
