My rock star class teacher as a role model. My presentation about Albert Einstein.

2009. On the second attempt in Realschule, I got the coolest homeroom teacher I ever had. He had long blonde hair, was in a rock band, and didn't look like the German or history teacher he actually was. He exuded enormous authority and was very intelligent! Every student respected him. But the best thing about him was: He liked me. He saw potential in me, which boosted my diligence. Ultimately, I wanted to maintain my teacher's positive opinion of me.

Thanks to my homeroom teacher, I had my first positive experience with the natural sciences - specifically, physics - even though the subjects he taught had nothing to do with physics. Instead, in German class, he wanted to find out who our role models were - personalities that fascinated us. This was to be presented in the form of a presentation. I had overslept the few minutes he gave us to think, so I had to quickly come up with someone when he asked each of us one by one about the topic. But I didn't have a role model. The first probably more interesting personality that came to mind besides George Clooney was Albert Einstein.

"Alexander, who is your role model?" the teacher asked me now.

"Albert Einstein," I replied decisively.

And so I had to delve into the life of the world's most famous physicist. After learning that his scientific discoveries enabled the development of a terrible weapon of destruction, namely the atomic bomb, and that it was subsequently used in Japan, I was shocked. I realized that scientific progress could mean the downfall of humanity if human reason lagged behind in its development.

For the presentation, I received an A and also got to know an interesting personality. Albert Einstein somehow became my role model because he never hesitated to explore new ideas in physics. I also liked about him that he was a global citizen and advocated for world peace and the oppressed. He struggled in his studies, just as I struggled in school.

This presentation about Einstein's life was enough to make him my role model. But to develop a real interest in physics, the presentation was not enough. Also, an exciting documentary about Albert Einstein's special theory of relativity, which my friend Alexey sent me via Skype after the presentation, gave me the most intense goosebumps I've ever had while watching.

After the successful presentation about Albert Einstein, I sat on a bench during the big break as usual, eating a Milky Way bar that I had bought at the school kiosk, while watching the playful students.

"How can you sit like that?" one of the passing students asked me.

"I'm Russian," I replied, taking a bite of my Milky Way bar.

"Please keep your feet off the bench," said the supervising teacher, Mr. Weimann, as he strode past me. So I sat on the bench like everyone else.

Sometimes Thomas and his brother Oswald passed by my bench, who were in the other tenth grade, and we chatted about World of Warcraft and other video games until the end of the break. Occasionally, my sister Mascha, who now attended the same school, would pass by my usual spot and bring me a cheese roll.