BISB Alumni = Friends for Life

Nicola M., BISB Graduate 2015

After calling BISB her home for 13 years, Nicola moved to London to study Computer Science, IT and Business Management at University College London (UCL). In 2019 she completed her MSc in Computer Graphics, Vision and Imaging. Captivated by the evolving fields of Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality, she focused her research on studying the effects of Robotic Teleoperation through the use of Virtual Environments.

Her strong interest in Astronomy and Space exploration has led her to start her professional experience with the European Space Agency (ESA), where she works as a Young Graduate Trainee for Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality Project Development. Nicola is currently overlooking the development of a VR experience on the Moon, aiming to illustrate and promote ESA’s future long-term Lunar settlement. She has been selected to present her research and findings at the International Astronautical Congress 2021 in Dubai. Nicola is still trying to pursue her dream of becoming an astronaut.

Ji Eun L., BISB Graduate 2014

After Ji Eun's graduation from BISB, she went to the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) to study Engineering. She spent one semester in HKUST, and then got an admission from Yonsei University, which made her go back to Korea. 

After she returned to Korea, she studied Mechanical Engineering at Yonsei University. During her years at the university, she took part in several on-campus clubs including Robot club and Association of Women Engineers. She worked as a mechanical designer at the Robot club, and was able to find out her interest in mechanical design using 3D programme. This experience played a very important  role in her career choice later. Also, she participated in several internal Creative Design Projects in her university, and internship programmes. 

After graduating from university, Ji Eun joined LG Display as a mechanical engineer. LG Display is the world-best company which is engaged in the business of producing and selling display-related products using technologies such as TFT-LCD and OLED. Among them, she is working in the monitor division, and contributing to the development of monitor display. She takes charge in mechanical design using 3D programmes, several simulation tools, and various experiments. As a result of her excellent work as an engineer, she was promoted to the Senior Researcher this year. 

Klara H., BISB Graduate 2018

After BISB, Klara ended up going to the University of Glasgow to study Neuroscience. In Glasgow, she chosed the accelerated path that skipped all of the 1st year. This material had largely been covered in IB, so with that BISB helped her better understand the university material. 

During her 1st year, Klara applied to the Study Abroad scheme. She was selected to participate in the exchange program offered by the University of California and placed in the Los Angeles (UCLA) campus. This was the best experience of her life. The campus was beautiful, the extra-curricular activities very broad and all students were encouraged to participate in world-class research laboratories. With the Track and Field club, they hosted the 1st ever UCLA all-commers meet and she joined Dr. Reggie Edgerton’s lab as a research assistant to a clinical trial studying therapy for spinal cord injury. 

In her final year, Klara wrote her dissertation about sex differences in pain and will present her project to the whole university of Glasgow at the Let’s Talk About [X] conference. Thanks to Ms. Eastwood and her recommendation as well as my supervisor and Dr. Edgerton, Klara was accepted to Oxford to join their first class psychiatry research program, hopefully, followed by a PhD at Oxford. 

"I think the main thing BISB gave me was security and support throughout my early life. Only after coming to university and having to do everything by yourself did I realise the amount of background work that went into our studies. Especially the final year application process that I had to do by myself for Master's level study. Throughout my university, I look back on our Psychology and Biology lessons in IB and they provide warm memories and a stable foundation of knowledge."

Jae H., BISB Graduate 2013

After graduating from BISB in 2013, Jae Hyung moved to Hong Kong to study Electronic and Computer Engineering at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST). As he always had a passion for the electronic systems of aircraft he also applied for and completed a minor in Aerospace Engineering. 

Throughout his years at university, Jae H. participated in various engineering competitions, including the Microsoft AI Competition and the Kerry Logistics AI Drone Hackathon where his team went up to the top 3 teams of Ph.D. students and software engineers. In his junior year, he completed his obligatory military service in Korea and flew to München for an exchange program at Technische Universität München (TUM) where he had a chance to enjoy the wonderful Bayern culture and German beers. 

 After graduating from university, Jae Hyung came back to Korea and started working at Bigdata marketing company "HumusOn" as Back-end/Server developer and being part of the AI marketing automation system team. At the same time, he formed a startup company, "CuriousOnes", with his university colleagues and became CTO of the company. They recently launched an app service called "Mootda". It's a service to create a borderless insight network between people working in a specific professional field. Working as a software engineer as well as practicing the role of CTO is not an easy job, but he will continue what he must do to become a professional software developer. 

 "My IB programme experience in BISB was very helpful, especially for thinking from many different perspectives. It may put you through a lot of challenges, but those will be a life lesson. Thanks to all my teachers and BISB" 

Emma A., BISB Graduate 2017

After Emma's graduation from BISB, she went on to study an undergraduate Bachelor of Science degree in Business Management at King’s College London.

The diversity of subjects & contents which are covered in the International Baccalaureate curriculum at BISB provided her with a great base of diversified knowledge to use to her advantage during her bachelor’s degree.

Throughout her years at university, she completed a variety of internships in the pharmaceutical, financial, and e-commerce business industries, including a Spring Week Insights Programme into Finance & Business Management at J.P. Morgan in the first year of her degree which helped reaffirm her desire to work in the fast-paced environment of the financial services industry.

As of now, she is currently working at J.P. Morgan Asset Management as an Investment Specialist Analyst where she is responsible for managing global Multi-Asset Solutions portfolios. Investment Specialists are responsible for the overall portfolio, strategy design, reporting & communications with clients and partner with the portfolio management desks to leverage product and market expertise for client acquisition & retention.

"Studying at BISB in an international & multicultural environment has shaped me into an open-minded & adaptable individual. The IB helped broaden my educational experience and challenged me to apply my knowledge & skills, which has really benefited me in my professional career.”

Borys S., BISB Graduate 2016

Borys started his journey at BISB in 2004. Upon finishing his IGCSEs in 2016, his family moved out of Slovakia with Borys finishing high school in Saint Andrew's School, Florida. After graduating in 2018, he took a gap year and founded VS Branding, a branding agency that helps companies around the world establishing strong brands. In 2019, he joined the team at Aerotrax Technologies, an enterprise technology company focused on the development and commercialization of blockchain-enabled applications for the Aviation & Aerospace industry, as Head of Product Design.

After his gap year, he started his Bachelor's in Marketing at a top business school in Boston, Massachusetts. However, after just one semester, Borys took another risk and returned to Europe to pursue graphic design. He started a new Bachelor's degree in Graphic Design at Willem de Kooning Academy, Rotterdam, as the studies aligned better with his ongoing career.

As of July 2021, he works at Aerotrax Technologies while concurrently studying and expanding his branding agency. While all of these endeavors have already exceeded his expectations, his journey has just started and he is looking forward to seeing where it leads him next!

Eunkyoung K., BISB Graduate 2013

Eunkyoung joined BISB in 2009 and finished IB Diploma in 2013, staying in Slovakia for four and a half years in total. During the high school year, she was interested in science and math and she decided to join the Eco-committee at BISB, as well as taking part in ISMTF Math competitions. Such passion in science and math encouraged her to study science in college. 

To join KAIST (Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology),  Eunkyoung went back to the Republic of Korea in 2013 and studied Materials Science and Engineering (MSE). As an undergraduate student, she joined Engineers Without Borders at KAIST (EWB-KAIST) and visited Nepal in 2016 as a volunteer to empower the Nepali community to meet their basic human needs through several engineering projects. 

Such experiences inspired her to become a person who could create social value through engineering and decided to deep dive into the semiconductor technology which contributes to a better human life. 

She also had an opportunity to study abroad for one semester at the Technical University of Munich on an exchange program which helped her to broaden her perspective as an engineer. As soon as she completed a master's degree at Nano Packaging and Interconnect Laboratory at KAIST in 2020, she started working at the Semiconductor R&D Center in Samsung Electronics. 

"My colleagues and I strive every day to develop an optimal process to fabricate a nano-scale semiconductor chip. some could say I finally achieved my dream to become a semiconductor expert, but my efforts to create social value for a better human life is ongoing." 

Mina Ch., BISB Graduate 2014

After graduating from BISB, Mina returned to South Korea to study International Studies & Business Administration at Yonsei University. At university she took part in several extracurricular activities including joining the university's fencing team and volunteering for educational charity programmes.

During college, Mina gained work experience by participating in several internship programmes, including the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC) and Adidas. Her team was selected as one of Korea's top 3 teams in P&G's CEO challenge, a case competition hosted by P&G. During her junior year, Mina studied at the University of Pennsylvania on an exchange program for one semester. It was one of the best decisions she made, as she enjoyed learning in the new environment as well as meeting new friends in UPENN's ‘a cappella‘ club.

After graduating from university, Mina joined LG Electronics as a Sales & Marketing specialist. After about 1.5 years of full-time work experience, she will be pursuing her Masters in Management Information Systems (MIS) at Seoul National University's Business School in September 2021.

"BISB and especially the IB programme has helped me get ready to read and write academic papers in university courses. A huge thank you to all my BISB teachers!"

Emma B., BISB Graduate 2017

Emma joined BISB in reception and graduated in 2017. After graduating, she took half a gap year and completed an internship in South Africa working with white sharks and later in Argentina working with horses. 

She then started a Bachelor of Science at The University of Melbourne in Australia. Emma had the opportunity to do plenty of interesting lab work and fieldwork in an environment completely different from the one she knew in Europe. She graduated with a Marine Biology major at the end of 2020. 

She is now about to start an Erasmus Mundus program, for which she received a full scholarship. She is orienting herself towards a two-year Aquaculture Masters degree as she thinks this field is very promising for our future. Her first semester will be held at the Scottish Association of Marine Science in Oban, then she will head to Crete, Greece, and finish off in Nantes, France. 

Min Jeong L., BISB Graduate 2014

After finishing IB diploma prgramme from BISB, Min Jeong moved to Korea to study Korean Education and English Interpretation and Translation at Dongguk University.

From her freshman year, she worked as the editor-in-chief of the English Newspaper of Dongguk University, the Dongguk Post, to create a connection between international students and school community. She has also worked for an educational organisation for children from underprivileged families for 4 years. After having worked for many years, I decided to pursue my passion for teaching.

She then started working as a Korean teacher for secondary school students after graduating from university. Along with teaching, she wants to become a teacher that not only helps students to learn but to help them find emotional stability.

Yangsoo Y., BISB Graduate 2013

After Yangsoon's graduation, he went to the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology to study mechanical engineering but then decided to switch his major to Computer Engineering. 

During his years at the university, he joined the Marine Corps to fulfill his duties as a Korean. As of now, he is currently working at a start-up called "Dayta AI" as the Head Software Engineer with the graduates from the university, trying to solve challenges faced by retail platforms through the means of Artificial Intelligence. Dayta AI is currently the leading company in the area of retail solutions using AI and hopes to expand the scope even beyond using bleeding-edge technology, providing valuable insights that could be used to help businesses survive the transforming industry that is rapidly changing from 'brick and mortar' to 'flagship stores'. Furthermore, the impact of such insights from the data would help store owners through difficult times like COVID-19. 

"Studying broadly through the curriculums provided by BISB helped shape who I am right now. Wide spectrum of knowledge helped me see the world at a broader scale and in different perspectives, other than my own."

Slavomir T., BISB Graduate 2010

Slavomir finished his IB Diploma in 2010 and went on to study in Bristol. His studies later took him to Berlin to finish a double degree programme and later to Austria and Kazakhstan for his master studies in International Business and Innovation. During his last master’s semester, Slavo took up a full time position at an innovation department within Innogy. After a year, Slavo was selected to be a co-founder of newly forming SKODA Auto DigiLab in Prague where he ran the Business Design and Research department. This role later took him to Tel Aviv and Beijing where he was responsible for the launch of DigiLab’s local outposts. After his departure from China and the “corporate world”, Slavo went on to launch multiple ventures such as the innovation studio Kiuub, Berlin based direct-to-consumer brand builder 100Cherries and a family office VC company ZAKA. Exactly 10 years after graduating BISB, Slavomir was selected for the 2020 Forbes 30 under 30 list.

David M., BISB Graduate 2010

David graduated from the British International School in Bratislava and from the British University in Southampton (Psychology). He mainly focuses on film directing, screenwriting, fashion photography and music composition. He‘s organized several audiovisual exhibitions in Great Britain, Czech Republic and Slovakia. In 2017, the Czech Photo Center in Prague awarded him the Discovery of the Year Award for his audiovisual work.

David has worked on a fantastic movie: 

PAVEL TRAUBNER: PORTRAIT OF THE NEUROLOGIST

“Doctor Pavel Traubner is a renowned Slovak neurologist. His life story reminds us what is the essence of a real true physician.”

Portrait of the famous Slovak neurologist Pavel Traubner shows not only an exceptional neurologist who has helped thousands of his patients in a fundamental way, but also a person who believes deeply in the principles of humanism, tolerance. He's been always ready to show helping hand to anybody. But Mr. Traubner is also not indifferent to the negative things that happen in society and he is willing to fight against xenophobic and racist torrents. He has never forgotten that his own life as a child was endangered by the Nazis and was saved thanks to the kindness and bravery of people. This has turned out to be an important lesson for his life.

Link to the movie https://www.rtvs.sk/televizia/archiv/14089 

Tereza R., BISB Graduate 2017

Tereza joined BISB in reception and spent the next 14 years at the school. She completed the IB diploma in the year 2017 and went off to London to study bioprocessing of new medicines and business management (under the Faculty of Biochemical Engineering) at UCL. During her studies, she became interested in cell and gene therapies and got awarded the EPSRC bursary grant to conduct her own research on the differentiation of stem cells alongside leading experts in the field.
After finishing her BSc in London, Tereza will continue her studies and pursue an MPhil in the field of therapeutic sciences at one of the world's leading universities; the University of Cambridge. In the future she hopes to commercialise novel therapies, providing treatment for yet incurable disease.

Michal H., BISB Graduate 2016

Michal was part of the BISB family for 4 years and finished his IB diploma in 2016. He has since lived and studied in San Francisco. He successfully graduated with bachelor’s degree at The Hult International Business School in August and started an independent branding & design consultancy for local startup clientele. His core services focus on brand identity development (research, logo design, typography, brand guidelines), but he has also worked on projects related to UX/UI design, social media management, and product packaging.

The next two milestones for Michal are to grow the team and increase educational content creation. His recently-started blog focuses on career growth-hacking, learnings & mistakes from his entrepreneurial journey, and mental health. 

Michal often thinks back on his BISB journey and attributes the ease of content creation to “hundreds of hours of essay writing”.

Soyon A., BISB Graduate 2016

Soyon graduated BISB in 2016 and studied History of Art at the University of Manchester in Manchester, UK. During her university life, she was a committee member of the Korean Students Society. Besides major events, she worked as an education secretary and organised various educational events such as language exchange class and Korean class.

Soyon also worked as a research assistant at the John Rylands Library for a short period. As they wanted to add new artworks to their collection, a few selected students from her course and her worked as research assistants to help them decide who’s works to acquire. She also worked as a volunteer at the Castlefield Gallery and mainly assisted in installing a new exhibition every 3-4 months.

While preparing for the Master’s degree, Soyon participated in the scholarship competition at NABA (Nuova Accademia di Belle Arti) Milan about the exhibition planning project and received a 25% special mention scholarship on the full standard yearly fee.

She was initially planning to go to Milan and start her master’s degree this September, but had to give it up on that due to COVID19. Soyon is now aiming to become a curator at an art gallery or an art museum. 

Alan M., BISB Graduate 2017

In 2017, Alan completed his IB studies at BISB and selected IB subjects with the intention of going on to study industrial design at university. However, after graduating this route no longer made sense to him and he decided to pursue a music career instead.

He currently lives in London where he is studying Music Production and Sound Engineering. Parallel to that, he is building his name as an artist in Slovakia. Alan is having a joined concert with “Mirai” band in Bratislava soon. 

Matej N., BISB Graduate 2016

Matej N. graduated BISB in 2016 with an outstanding 44 points in the IB Diploma. Now that’s an amazing score, less than 2% of the World achieve this score! (worldwide average is 30 points).

He was selected for his academic excellence for a place at Imperial College London to study Computing and received the Morgan Stanley Award for being one of the Universities top 10 students. He is currently at MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) the world No.1 University working on his master’s degree (MEng) in computer science with a specialization in data science. He got this place on a full scholarship for his tuition fees. His master’s thesis is looking at ways to improve the integration of Venezuelan refugees in Colombia. 

Veronika R., BISB Graduate 2015

After completing her studies at BISB, Veronika studied at the University of Exeter, graduating with First class honours degree in Business and Management with Industrial Experience in 2019. While at Exeter, Veronika successfully represented her university in range of sports and took on various committee roles within sports clubs and societies. She has also completed a one-year full-time work placement at Vodafone HQ in Prague as a part of her degree, focusing on digital projects within the company. In September 2019, she will continue her Master’s studies at the Imperial College Business School in London.

Veronika has been selected out of 850 applicants to join the BOLD Immersion Program 2019 at Google`s EMEA HQ in Dublin. This gave her valuable insight into Google`s culture, job roles and interviewing process, which she will utilise in here upcoming interview.

Nathalie S., BISB Graduate 2015

After graduating from the British International School of Bratislava in 2015, Nathalie studied at the University of St. Andrews, graduating in June 2019 with a MA (Honors) in International Relations and French.  Throughout her time at St. Andrews, she participated in community outreach projects and worked as an analyst for the Foreign Affairs review.  She made a group of great lifelong friends, learned to golf, and enjoyed traveling and skiing in different parts of Europe!  During her summers, she interned at various multinational organizations, including the Arms Control Section of the U.S. Mission to the UN in Vienna, Austria; the U.S. Mission to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe; and the International Atomic Energy Agency Section of the U.S. Mission to the UN in Vienna, Austria.

In September, Nathalie will begin a six month Erasmus+ traineeship with the American think tank and grant making institution, the German Marshall Fund of the United States (GMF).  She will be working on their partnerships team at their Brussels office.

Barbora B., BISB Graduate 2014

After spending 13 years at BISB Barbora moved to the UK to study English Language and Literature at King’s College London. At university, Barbora took part in a number of sport teams, literary clubs and charity groups.

After graduating from university, Barbora spent 6 months working as a teaching assistant in a number of primary and secondary schools across London. Here she assisted within the English department as well as provided additional support to students with special educational needs. In February 2018 Barbora moved on to work at London Higher as an intern for the National Collaborative Outreach Programme, a project funded by the Office for Students (OfS) which aims to increase the progression of young people from disadvantaged backgrounds to higher education. Within 3 months at London Higher Barbora progressed to become a Project Officer for the programme.

While working at London Higher Barbora also took part in a 10-month charity apprenticeship organised by the children’s charity child.org where she has learned about the challenges faced within the third sector and utilised this newfound knowledge and skill set to organise and execute her own fundraisers, raising money for child.org.

Liam P.,BISB Graduate 2012

After attending BISB for 7 years, Liam went on to earn a degree in History from the University of Edinburgh. He devoted a great deal of his studies to 19th and 20th century history and post-World War Two war crimes trials. After graduating from Edinburgh in 2016, he moved to Ukraine where he underwent a year of intensive Russian-language study before passing the B-2 level state exams. This was followed by a short stint in the Republic of Georgia on an English teaching and cultural immersion program in the remote Tusheti region. After this, Liam moved to Stockholm, Sweden to intern with the Institute for Security and Development Policy, where he conducted research and published articles on international relations pertaining to East Asia. Finally, upon finishing up in Sweden in 2018, he moved to Malawi, Southern Africa, where he taught English in a refugee camp for people fleeing conflicts in Central Africa. As of the beginning of 2019, Liam began working as Fundraising, Communications, and Visibility Manager at 'Tingathe' ('Yes We Can' in the local language, Chichewa), a Malawian NGO which specializes in providing vocational, business management, and leadership training to school drop-outs living in peri-urban areas of Malawi. He hopes to return to university for a Masters in 2020.

Benyamin S., BISB Graduate 2014

After graduating from BISB in 2014, my studies and professional experiences have led me all over the world. I first moved to the Netherlands where I completed an Honors Liberal Arts and Sciences Degree at University College Utrecht. Within this degree, I had the opportunity to do an exchange semester in Kofu, Japan and adopt a multifaceted approach to education and problem-solving. 

After completing my undergraduate degree, I obtained my MSc in Public Policy and Governance from the University of Amsterdam. Based on my academic achievements, I was then selected to do an internship at the United States Department of State where I worked in Vienna for the U.S. Mission to the United Nations. This gave me an incredible experience of how day-to-day diplomacy is conducted and the crucial role the UN fills. 

I am now retired from academics and working as an Enterprise Resource Planning Trainee for the Microsoft tech partner HSO International. I hope to use my experience and knowledge in both the public and private sectors to really make an impact on the world! 

Tessa H., BISB Graduate 2009

After completing her IB studies at BISB, Tessa went to study BSc Medical Sciences at Exeter University. This degree comprised of a professional training year in the lab, in which she focused on inflammation in rheumatoid arthritis research. During her BSc she presented at two international conferences and co-authored a couple of scientific publications. Afterwards she went to Vienna to the Institute of Molecular Biotechnology, to work as a postgraduate researcher in the field of proteomics. After almost a year she realised that this scientific field was not for her. She moved to Scotland and won a scholarship to study MSc Precision Medicine, a degree awarded jointly by the Universities of Glasgow, Aberdeen and Strathclyde. This degree opened doors to the pharmaceutical industry. Following her MSc degree, she found a job as a Project Assistant in TauRx Therapeutics, a Scottish biotech start-up that is developing treatment for Alzheimer's disease. After several years in Scotland, Tessa decided to try her luck back in Slovakia and is now working as a Medical Writer at IQVIA a global pharma consulting company. Recently she has decided to further her education and got a scholarship to study a Master of Public Health (MPH) degree part-time at University College Cork, Ireland, whilst continuing her full-time job in Bratislava.

Lukas Moravcik., BISB Graduate 2007

After being awarded full scholarship and graduating BISB in 2007, Lukas went on to study International Management and Modern Languages at the University of Bath (UK). During his studies he completed a 12-month placement in Global Procurement at a multinational company in Germany, where he got his first taste of the corporate world. Lukas graduated with a BSc (Hons) in 2011 and after a few months of travelling moved to Austria to work as an account manager at an SME in Lower Austria. Having seen both sides of the negotiation table, Lukas switched again to procurement in 2013 as a Corporate Category Manager for another international company in Vienna, only to be recruited in 2015 by an energy company in Salzburg as a Procurement Manager. As of March 2018 Lukas works in a more senior position as a global category manager for an international developer. Looking back, Lukas acknowledges that studying at BISB has been the first and single most important step in his academic career, which opened up many opportunities and helped him get to where he is today.