Thijs was born at the 29th of April 1985. After a couple of years he started at the music school to take trumpet lessons. Because he had time enough after school, Thijs started also successfully the percussion courses. For trumpet as well as percussion, he graduated at the music school in Gooik and participated in many concerts with the orchestra and a brass band.
Beside this, Thijs was also very active in the youth movement ‘Chiro’ and later the ‘KAJ’. Because of the lack of sports, he trained many hours in the judo-club at Leerbeek.
At the age of 16, the technical prickles became too big, and he started the courses to become private pilot at the airbase of Grimbergen near Brussels. When he was 17 years and 8 months old, he accomplished his official first solo flight with a Cessna 152.
After one year at the university of Leuven, Thijs arrived at the GroupT Leuven Engineering College and he was from the beginning evolved with VDS. He confirmed to take the lead of the frameteam and the year after he decided his Thesis: Investigate the potential of bio-composites in a structural element, and compare the Life Cycle Impact compared to other materials.