Lukas Brinias ’09
Lukas Brinias ’09 came to SJA as a boarding student from Germany. Growing up, he pursued interests in science and technology, spending countless hours on the Internet interacting with American citizens, leading to an interest in studying in the United States.
At first, Lukas was not sold on attending SJA. Working with a German consultant, he had narrowed his search down to three schools, but felt that “Vermont did not seem exciting at all.” However, having visited the campus, Lukas decided to “give it a chance, and having found ways for him to grow and learn — learned to love it like a home.” Lukas lived in Burrows Place, now Christiansen Dorm. He recalls, “Campus felt homey early on. I was comfortable and found it easy to fit in and make friends.” Mature for his age, he said, “I felt like I was treated as an adult and enjoyed the challenge of being away from my parents and being independent for the first time.”
After school, you would find him in the robotics lab. In the late 2000s, Elaine Parshall (former science faculty), and a handful of students, including Lukas, formed the SJA FIRST Robotics Team. In their first year, they earned the highest-seeded rookie award. Outside of the lab, Lukas enjoyed photography, shooting the games of the Ultimate teams, coached by Josh Seamon (former math faculty). Not soon after, he was photographing school events and other sports games and publishing them on the newly launched Facebook.
In addition to his already strong interest in STEM, Lukas discovered his passion for the arts and spent countless hours in the Morse building. He said, “I fondly remember Kim and Bill Darling (both retired arts faculty) and the impact they had on their students. As a bit of an unorthodox choice for a technology geek, I decided to complete an arts capstone my senior year.”
After graduation, Lukas spent time traveling, before returning to Germany. He began his career in sales and joined the startup Aedifion in January 2020. The company believes in net-zero buildings and aim to “make buildings an active part of the energy transition.” Since buildings are responsible for a large portion of emissions, Aedifion “wants to team up with companies to make one million buildings worldwide more sustainable, saving 100 megatons of CO2 per year.”
At Aedifion, Lukas started as Head of Sales and Marketing and has since advanced to become the Vice President of Growth, in charge of nine departments. The company has expanded from 11 employees when he started, to over 60 today. Lukas said, “When I first started my career, I was known as ‘the guy with the tie’ because I was wearing what I had worn as a student at SJA. I stuck to the dress code and found it suits me really well.”
Reminiscing on what stuck with him from his time at SJA, Lukas has this advice for SJA students: “Each experience, even very hard ones, led me to where I am today. Pursuing my interest in STEM defined my perspective on the world; shooting events through my camera gave me a lens to view the world; discovering my passion for art allows me to express my world. Diving into the unknown is exciting — whenever you are presented the opportunity to experience something new, seize it.”