Meet Daniel Riechmann ‘20, who attended ASB for 12.5 years from pre-kindergarten. Daniel was born in the United States, where his parents were both working at the time; however, he returned to Barcelona with his family when he was five years old. “I’m entirely grateful for the trajectory of my life because I know that it is quite unique,” he shared. Today Daniel is studying Mechanical Engineering at the Eindhoven University of Technology in The Netherlands. “I love it here; it’s an extensive degree, so I have a lot of opportunities to specialize in what I want, which I think is great.”



Daniel was interested in engineering from a young age. With both parents’ biologists, he took biology in Grade 9 but realized it wasn’t for him. “Physics has always been a favorite subject, so mechanical engineering was a natural choice.”

Fortunately for Daniel, this year at university, he has attended some in-person classes on campus. “For my first elective, I chose Pulsar Navigation, which involves designing a spacecraft component that uses signals from electromagnetic stars to locate itself in space. It’s exciting designing the 3D model and coming up with an algorithm - I’m having a great time.”

When asked about his experiences at ASB, Daniel comments, “I genuinely think one of the best things ASB has is a phenomenal group of science teachers. I think they are incredibly dedicated and, at least in my experience, they go above and beyond what is expected of them to make sure that all their students succeed.”

He continues with a shout-out for physics teacher, Mr. Bartlett, “this man is solely responsible for a lot of my success here just because he is such an amazing physics teacher. I’m incredibly grateful to him.”

Extracurricular activities like Model United Nations, student council, and RefugArt were important for Daniel as a student at ASB. His RefugArt group was able to help raise more than 30,000 Euro in two years for the Mediterranean Refugee Crisis. Many of these high school experiences helped him gain confidence in communication and public speaking. Today Daniel is a part of the debating association at Eindhoven and hopes to join the board next year.



When asked to recall a favorite memory from ASB, Daniel laughs as he recalls a time with his best friend when they borrowed Mr. Hennessy’s laptop to play some “inappropriate” music while he was out of the classroom. “We thought we were so smug but were caught on CCTV on Friday and asked to come in on Monday...we were so scared over the weekend and fully expected a reprimanding, but Mr. Hennessy thought it was funny, and I’ll never forget that.”

One word to descibe ASB?

“Fulfilling.”

Once a Lynx, Always a Lynx!
#Lynx4Life #ASBtogether

Contributed: December 2020