In the eye of the storm

20-year-old Victoria Dellas has a very clear plan for her career. One day, she would like to work in the USA to predict extreme weather events such as upcoming storms and hurricanes as accurately as possible and thus protect people and nature. Either at the National Hurricane Centre in Miami, Florida, at the Storm Prediction Centre in Norman, Oklahoma, or as an aviation meteorologist for aeronautical institutions. 

“That has always been my absolute dream. I decided to go to the Bavarian International School so that I could follow exactly this path,” says Victoria Dellas, who moved from a state gymnasium in Kiel to Grade 10 at BIS in 2021 and graduated with the International Baccalaureate Diploma (IB DP) in 2023. ‘BIS has equipped me academically with everything I need for the next steps, e.g. independent learning, outside-the-box thinking, creativity, international mindedness,’ says the Berlin native. The CAS programme (Creativity, Activity, Service) also played an important role, as the young student engaged with the German Weather Service (“Climate data analysis”), worked there in a part-time job alongside the IB DP and completed internships at Munich Airport (aviation meteorology). 

Personalised learning

So it's no wonder that Victoria Dellas is now studying exactly that: Meteorology including Aviation Meteorology as a major and Aviation Management as a minor at the Florida Institute of Technology in Melbourne (USA), equipped with various scholarships. The renowned private university is located on Florida's Space Coast in the neighbourhood of companies such as Space X, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrup Grumman or NASA. A quarter of the students come from 80 different countries. “I chose this university because of its excellent reputation. And the student-teacher ratio is small to ensure a personalised approach to learning. The atmosphere and learning climate are comparable to BIS, people know each other, there is a team spirit here. Last but not least, the university stands for inspiration and success - just like BIS,” says Victoria Dellas. As mentioned at the beginning, she always has a clear perspective: the future extreme weather meteorologist would like to do her Masters at the University of Oklahoma or the University of Colorado Boulder. “Meteorology is incredibly important and life-essential in the USA!”

Lifelong community

However, Victoria Dellas also knows that she needs to find the right balance and create a counterweight to her intellectual work. She goes to the gym, plays golf (‘a people´s sport in the USA’), enjoys leisure time on the beach or trips to the Kennedy Space Center nearby Cape Canaveral. When holidays and time allow, she returns to her home country and also visits her former school, as she did recently at the BIS International Festival. “I think it's great to be part of a lifelong community and I'm really looking forward to meeting up with old school friends and keeping in touch,” says Victoria Dellas. By the way, this is very easy - via the alumni portal BIS Connect!

For alumni students, teachers and employees - join the BIS Alumni platform: https://bis-connect.org/

Florida Institute of Technology campus - Victoria Dellas in front of the Edwin A. Link Building (integrated faculty of marine, and oceanic sciences including Meteorology)