While attending Blue Ridge School on an ASSIST scholarship from his home in Croatia, Frane Marušić completed and submitted a biology research project that won a national competition. Frane’s research on the infectivity of river water bacteria in urban and rural areas earned him the 2022 Future Scientist Award presented to top Croatian high school students by the International Society for Applied Biological Sciences. 

Last year, before coming to Blue Ridge, Frane collected bacterial samples from the Cetina River near his home in the city Omis, Croatia. He hypothesized that bacteria closer to the city would have a higher level of infectivity, thus be more dangerous. However, he found results that show the opposite is true. In the United States, Frane worked with Science Teacher Jack Warren to analyze the data and write his final paper. Frane will give a presentation at the ISABS conference this June where he will also have the opportunity to meet Nobel Prize Laureates Aaron Ciechanover (Chemistry, 2004), Sir Richard John Roberts (Physiology and Medicine, 1993), and Thomas Südhof (Physiology and Medicine, 2013). The conference also includes lectures from leading scientists from around the world, including speakers from the Mayo Clinic, MIT, Yale, and Stanford.

Frane says, “I love science, but this is something that I just do for fun in high school. I’m more of a science guy than English, for example, but what I really want to pursue is economics. In high school there are more opportunities for research in science than in economics. I really love research, so I do a lot of work in science.”

Frane was one of three ASSIST Scholars among the Junior Class at Blue Ridge School during the 2021-22 school year. ASSIST is a non-profit organization that matches academically talented, multilingual international students with American independent secondary schools. During a one-year school stay, ASSIST Scholars serve as cultural ambassadors actively participating in classes and extracurricular activities. Frane was the first Croatian student ever to attend Blue Ridge and was particularly active in the Economics Club and the Barons for Ukraine fundraiser. The money raised by Barons for Ukraine went to the B.W. McDonald Home for Boys, an orphanage in Ukraine started by the family of BRS alumni Aristotle McDonald ‘10 and Abraham McDonald ‘08. Joining Frane as ASSIST Scholars at Blue Ridge were Erik Schmiedl of Sendenhorst, Germany, and Aaron Schramm of Kuerten, Germany. 

“I am really grateful for my time at Blue Ridge,” says Frane. “I think it was a perfect match. I couldn’t have asked for better people, better friends, better community. The connections I got with so many people and teachers was amazing. At the beginning I was scared, but I am so happy that I came to Blue Ridge. It was perfect. I told all my teachers that I can’t imagine going to a different school because this was amazing.”