Anastasia enjoys competing in soccer, field hockey, and basketball. She plays violin, piccolo, flute, and piano and enjoys the creative arts of drawing, sculpture, and weaving. Anastasia would like to become a surgeon, noting, "I like science very much and the complexity of the human body is fascinating." Anastasia's mother is her mentor because "she can find a scientific aspect to just about anything."
Since 1960, the population surrounding Barnegat Bay, New Jersey, has quadrupled. Anastasia thought such explosive growth might negatively impact water quality.
Anastasia collected twice-weekly samples from two locations on the bay. She tested them for alkalinity, pH, dissolved oxygen, phosphate, carbon dioxide, and other water quality indicators. She also obtained 8,000 historical data points by combing government databases. All indicators showed a long-term decline in water quality.
