Hailing from Indonesia, ASB alum Muhammad (Affy) Rishfi attended ASB from 2004 to 2010 (G3-10) together with his older sister Lulu Davita (G6-12) and younger brother Adny Haekal (PK3-G3). 

"I am extremely grateful to my former Elementary School principal, Ms. Nancy Boyd, who helped me enormously by taking the time to give me private English lessons."

Affy faced another challenge in learning a new language after his family moved to Belgium in 2010, where Affy and his siblings completed their education at the International School of Brussels. 

"To attend the university program of my choice in Belgium, I had to study either French or Dutch, for which I had no prior knowledge. Therefore, I decided to take a year to study Dutch at KU Leuven, after which I commenced my degree in Biomedical Sciences at Ghent University. Throughout my years at university, language limits made it very difficult and challenging for me. Thankfully, I had gone through a similar experience back in ASB, which taught me that there's no such thing as a language "barrier," only a language "obstacle" that anyone could overcome through persistence. Ultimately, I graduated Magna Cum Laude in 2020 and was awarded best Master's Thesis within the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences."

Grateful for the help he received over the years, Affy was motivated to pursue a career that allows him to give back and help those in need. Currently, he is a Ph.D. doctoral researcher at the Pediatric Precision Oncology lab in Ghent www.ppol.be, where he focuses on developing new targeted therapies for neuroblastoma, a rare but very severe form of childhood cancer. 

"Through my research, I hope to be able to play my part and contribute to improving societal healthcare."

Affy's sister, Vita, studied Business Administration at KU Leuven, completing an Erasmus Program in Madrid at Universidad San Pablo CEU, graduating with a Magna Cum Laude in 2014. After graduation, she moved back to Jakarta, Indonesia, and now works as a Growth Marketing Manager at an Integrated Children's Platform called Buumi Playscape. Following her passion to work with children, she is also building a community on @mamapastibisa_ to empower mothers and enhance early childhood development through educational content. 

Reflecting on her time at ASB, Vita shared, "I had the best time living in Barcelona and attending ASB. I remember I arrived there with basic English, and Ms. Crisy, our ESL teacher, helped me achieve fluency in English - I never thought I could graduate with flying colors in IB English A1 HL. I also remember all my wonderful teachers: Mr. Llamazares, Ms. Lee, Mr. Pacheco, Mr. Volchok, Mr. Maas, Ms. Hunt, Ms. Cole…. They all helped me develop resilience and become more open-minded, inspiring me to strive for excellence in everything I do continuously."

Affy's brother, Adny, still has pleasant recollections of a dance performance to "We are Family" with Ms. Claudia and Ms. Marta Vernet in K4. "We all enjoyed that and still keep a copy of the performance in our collection of home videos." This year he graduated from KU Leuven with a Bachelor's in Electromechanical Engineering and will now pursue a Master's, specializing in Intelligence Mechanics. 

Wonderful to reconnect with former Lynxes!

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