Autumn Lor & Keith Hodge
Staff Writers
Lukas Hoffmann is a senior, foreign exchange student from Wiesbaden, Germany that came to Science Leadership Academy for the 2017-18 school year.
He came to America without knowing what school he was going to or what he was going to do as a new student. However, he did already know English.
He started learning it when he was in third grade back in Germany. He also speaks Portuguese, Spanish, and French. He believes that learning these languages helps commutation with others around him in the community.
During his sophomore year in high school, he wanted to be a foreign exchange student but at the time he was 14 and his parents thought that he was too young to go to a new country by himself.
In summer of 2017, he graduated from high school in Germany.He still hungered for an international learning experience, so he decided to get his high school diploma in America.
New Friends and Environment
When Hoffmann first arrived in America on August 22nd, he met friends who were also going to other countries. He didn’t have a choice of where he wanted to go but was very grateful for getting the chance to come to Philadelphia, especially Science Leadership Academy as a school.
When coming to a new school, it was very easy for him to make friends. He was able to join the boy’s soccer team and is now friends with most of the team. Including a great friendship with one of the team captains, fellow Senior Malachi Johnson.
“He wasn’t shy at all and he really put himself out there, I think that he is someone who I would still talk to in 10 years,” Johnson stated.
Hoffmann plays left wing with other seniors like Johnson but in Germany, he didn’t always play. He played for a few years in middle school but didn’t have time to keep up with school and soccer.
“I remember our first game, my jersey was dirty and I thought it was a good sign because we won,” Hoffmann said with pride.
Life outside of SLA
For the past couple of months, he has only been to his host house and a few places in Center City. Although he has a lot of friends, he doesn’t have much in Philadelphia outside of SLA because the schools in Philadelphia are more isolated than Germany schools.
Some of his favorite shows are The Simpsons and Family Guy. In Germany, he would watch a lot of television but here he doesn’t get the chance to do that as much because his host, Senior Chuckie Copeland, doesn’t have one.
“I like old action movies because I have memories with my dad about watching movies at home with him,” said Hoffmann.
Life as a Student
“He fits in really well, can provide some eye-opening perspective because he is from a different place,” Hoffmann’s Advisor, Larissa Pahomov told SLA.
Just like other SLA seniors, Hoffmann will have to present his Capstone to the rest of SLA in other to graduate. Teachers and students are waiting to see what he has to offer.
In the meantime, he has been fitting right in at school and surprising his peers with his English skills.
“Everyone says that I talk a lot and also talk very fast. When I was younger it was worst because I was stuttering more but now I don’t do it as much because I talk fast,” Hoffman explained.
Lukas has also told SLA media that by the end of the school year his goal is to try to possible play America’s pastime, baseball because he is in America after all.
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