Chinese New Year — also known as Lunar New Year — is today, February 12, and we are so honored to be announcing that Yijing Brentano, Senior Vice President of Gentherm and a 1,000 Dreams Fund Board of Directors member, is funding FIVE additional scholarships for our 1,000 Dreams Fund Scholarship Program. 

In recognition of the Red Envelope gift, a long-standing Chinese New Year tradition, Yijing and her daughter, Grace, are gifting this generous donation as part of their “Two Sides, Two Stories and Two Generations” commitment to 1DF’s mission and the importance of bringing generations together to mentor, support, and uplift young women who face big hurdles to their big dreams.

“I am very excited about taking the next step on our ‘Two Sides, Two Stories and Two Generations’ journey along with 1,000 Dreams Fund,” says Yijing. “I am grateful to the men and women who have shared their wisdom with me, not only through their words but also through their actions.”

These five additional 1,000 Dreams Fund Scholarship Winners, and students, had the VERY special opportunity to meet and be mentored by the sponsor of their scholarship, Yijing Brentano!

2021 marks the Year of the Ox in Chinese tradition, a symbol of strength and determination — which is quite apropos, as these qualities likewise characterize the ambitious, talented young college women that the 1DF Scholarship Program supports by funding educational conferences, instructional programs, application and graduate exam fees, textbooks, and more!

(By the way, applications for the 2021 scholarship are open through April 2, 2021. Apply here!)

“As I celebrate my heritage and welcome the Year of the Ox, I hope to instill Ox-like resolve in more young women through financial support and mentoring,” adds Yijing.

“Mentors are invaluable because you get an opportunity to gain experience from the trials and tribulations and ensuing learnings of others, which enables you to live the world through many sets of eyes,” says Grace, a software engineer at X Development LLC (formerly Google X). “Although I’m still learning myself, I’m excited for the opportunity to share my perspective and give light to the unique failures that advanced me to where I am today.”

We are so grateful to Yijing and Grace for their incredibly generous Red Envelope gift to 1DF to support these five additional scholarship recipients and to jointly mentor these young women.

Let’s meet our additional recipients!

Nilsa Laine – Bryant University

Eleni Varlas – University of Maryland-Baltimore County

Sena Ferzan – University of Nebraska-Omaha

Lilly Nguyen – Trinity Preparatory School

Shifra Weingarten – University of Wisconsin-Madison

In addition to her generously funding these scholarships, Yijing has also surprised us with a Red Envelope donation match (dollar for dollar) through the end of February, up to $5,000. 

If you’d like to commemorate this time with your own Red Envelope gift to 1DF to make a positive impact on promising young women in high school and college, you can donate here.