Lyse, France

" My name is Lyse, I am 19 years old, and I joined HEC Paris in September 2025 after two years of preparatory classes. I have been fortunate to receive a scholarship thanks to the Jean-Marie Eveillard “First Generation Student” Fund.

I wanted to write this letter to thank you and to give a name, a story, and a face to one of the young people you support.

In 2017, at the age of 11, I was deeply affected by Hurricane Irma, which devasted my island (Saint-Martin, Caribbean). Then, I developed a resilience that has shaped my entire journey. Three years of autonomous study at the CNED (French National Center for Online Education) strengthened my discipline, perseverance and work ethic, ultimately leading me to academic excellence and admission to HEC Paris (ranked 28th). However, while this atypical path endowed me with valuable strengths, it also came with significant financial challenges. The hurricane destroyed my father’s business (The Coconut Trees Go Karting) that had already been affected four years earlier by a fire. Since those two tragedies, my father has struggled to bounce back. While those trials taught me to transform adversity into perseverance, they also became a heavy burden and could have prevented me from fully seizing the opportunities offered by a school like HEC Paris, which required constant and intense academic effort.

But if I can reap the fruits of my labor and pursue a path my parents could not, it is thanks to your help. So I would like to extend my deepest thanks to you. Thank you for your engagement. Thank you for your support. Thank you for your compassion. Thank you for giving a meaning to the word “family” within HEC.
Thank you for helping me learn to dare.

Sincerly yours,
Lyse Peyronny."