For years, Germantown Academy graduate Aja Carter ’10 has been curious about “seeing a world that isn’t there anymore” and finding out what happened, as she explained in a recent article on Drexel University’s website.

Carter’s passion for dinosaurs and eagerness to know what happened to them has led her to Drexel University, where she is conducting research alongside graduate students and professors in Drexel’s Paleontology and Geology Program.

“I’m learning to ask the right things,” she said in the article.

Carter, a sophomore, is planning to build a catalog of the Academy of Natural Science’s extensive specimen collection that would assist her colleagues in their research. Impressively, Carter has already made a discovery of her own. While on her first dig in Montana, she and fellow Drexel students stumbled upon a cache of fossilized dinosaur remains, which could lead to important discoveries in a broad range of sciences, including: anatomy, biomechanics, ecology, cellular biology, evolutionary heritage and climate study.

Recently, Carter wrote Head of Upper School Rich Schellhas explaining how GA prepared her for her studies at Drexel.

“Germantown Academy really set me up to do well in college,” wrote Carter. “In addition to being able to handle my studies, the time management skills I learned at GA also allowed me to venture into research. I have to juggle my time doing research and course work at Drexel.

“I might be doing dinosaur sized work at Drexel, but I got my start at GA!” stated Carter.