Lukas Worch
“There were a lot of great moments on various field trips, goofing around in smaller IB classes, and afternoons with the strategy games club.”

WHERE ARE THEY NOW?

ALUMNI Q&A

from April 2025

What’s your name?

Lukas Worch

How many years did you attend ISHR?

13 years

What year did you graduate?

2016

What are you up to now?

After graduating, I moved to Munich and got an M.Sc. in physics. Then, I moved to London, and am currently working on getting my PhD. I’m working on a project aiming to improve lifespan and capacity of li-ion batteries by investigating how damage occurs at the atomic scale.

What was your favorite subject at ISHR?

If I had to pick just one, it would be Physics, but I also had a great time in Math, English, and Drama.

In what ways do you feel ISHR prepared you for what came next?

Beyond the rigorous academics, which had me very well prepared for the start of university, I also feel that it significantly fostered skills related to critical thinking, research, and creative problem solving. In physics, and in many cases life in general, you find that sooner or later the way you think about problems and how you approach them becomes more important than what you already know about them, and having this ingrained early has been very useful.

What was the biggest challenge you faced in adapting to life after ISHR?

Finishing with school is always a time of lots of changes. I moved to a new city, lived alone for the first time, and started university, which felt very different from school. It took some time and effort to really get used to all of that, and probably several years before I really felt comfortable with it. But it proved to be absolutely worth it, and taught me a lot about myself in the process.

What advice would you give to current students or your former self?

It’s okay if things don’t work out the way you imagine they will. You can’t plan out everything in advance, and you’ll often find that whatever path you end up on instead is just as good, if not better, than the one you’d hoped for originally.

What’s your favorite memory from your time at ISHR?

There were a lot of great moments on various field trips, goofing around in smaller IB classes, and afternoons with the strategy games club. One thing I’ll always remember is rehearsing and performing A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Just the right mix of great theatre and silliness to make for some amazing afternoons after school.

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