Emilie-Céline H.24

My name is Emilie-Céline, and I am 21 years old. I am originally from Romans-sur-Isère where I grew up and studied until leaving high school. After obtaining my high-school diploma, specializing in Economics and Social Sciences, I enrolled in business preparatory classes in Lyon.

Among my close circle of friends, I didn't know anyone who had taken the preparatory classes route. It wasn't until my senior year that I talked to students about taking preparatory classes. In high school, my homeroom teacher encouraged me to aim for selective study programs, given my very good academic record. My parents have followed my progress and have always supported me in my choices. In a way, they have been discovering the entire system with me, step by step. Two years of study, culminating in a competitive examination, followed by a business school...  
 
I have benefited from the Foundation's support since preparatory classes. I have been a beneficiary of the PREP'HEC scheme, and it was a source of great pride for me to see that the best school in France, which everyone dreams of attending, believed in me even before I joined it. 
The work in preparatory classes paid off; I passed the competitive exams in 2020 and joined HEC. 
I then began my journey at this prestigious school, highly motivated and eager to learn. I have discovered so many things, and met people from all walks of life...

I met Franck Segard, our main contact with the Foundation, who was very kind and accessible. At the end of my first year, I seized the opportunity to be mentored by an alumnus via the scholarship student mentoring program, established by HEC Bénévolat and the Foundation's "Equal Opportunities" mission. I am particularly grateful to my mentor Claire for her time, support, and attention, which have enabled me to learn more about myself, to understand my expectations better, discover the conventions of the corporate world, and therefore make my first professional choices with confidence. It is a relationship built on trust, respect, and I would even go so far as to say friendship, that has been established. 
A great school like HEC has changed so many things for me: it has given me an opportunity to be trained by excellent professors.

HEC also gives you the strength of being part of a large community, and an extraordinary and inspiring Alumni network. 
Finally, I would say that it is a state of mind that we cultivate and which drives us to be the best we possibly can. "Learn to dare" is a mantra that we seem to have taken to heart, because we see it everywhere; we get used to it, but deep down, it becomes ingrained in us throughout our careers, and personally, it motivates me enormously and will inspire me in my future endeavors.