[{"jcr:title":"Insper Scholarship Program reaches the milestone of 1,000 students supported","cq:tags_0":"tipos-de-conteudo:acontece-no-insper","cq:tags_1":"tipos-de-conteudo:acontece-no-insper/programa-de-bolsas"},{"richText":"Four stories that reveal what happens when talent meets real opportunities for development","authorDate":"28/03/2026 11h10","madeBy":"Por","tag":"tipos-de-conteudo:acontece-no-insper","title":"Insper Scholarship Program reaches the milestone of 1,000 students supported","variant":"imagecolor"},{"jcr:title":"laranja - turquesa - vermelho"},{"themeName":"laranja - turquesa - vermelho"},{"containerType":"containerTwo"},{"jcr:title":"Grid Container Section","layout":"responsiveGrid"},{"text":"Some achievements cannot be captured by a number alone. When an institution reaches the milestone of 1,000 scholarship recipients, the figure matters — but its real meaning lies in what it represents: doors opening, life paths changing direction, and talents no longer seen as distant potential but as concrete life projects. Created in 2004, Insper’s Scholarship Program has reached the mark of 1,000 students supported, bringing together something rare in Brazilian higher education: access, retention, and a community that welcomes, demands excellence, and broadens horizons. In every story, the scholarship is not a detail, but a condition that allows merit and opportunity to move forward together. Milena Freire de Almeid a entered Insper at 18 and became the symbol of this milestone: she is the program’s one-thousandth scholarship recipient. But her story with the institution began at age 12, when she was invited, as a public school student, to visit the Engineering lab. The impact was immediate. “I fell in love with Insper’s infrastructure,” she recalls. A friend beside her was more skeptical: “You’re crazy — we can’t afford to study here.” Milena did not yet know about the Scholarship Program , but she did not give up on her dream. Born in Jardim Ângela and raised between the outskirts and Vila Nova Conceição — where her family moved during the week after her father was promoted from doorman to building manager in an upscale São Paulo neighborhood — she grew up questioning the differences she saw: why did one neighborhood have trees and the other not? Why did friends on one side speak English and those on the other not? “Understanding inequality has always been the central question of my life,” she says. This perspective led her to Economics — and to Insper, where she was admitted on her first entrance exam, turning down scholarships from other institutions. The sense of belonging she found confirmed her decision. “I felt very welcomed, like I truly belonged. It’s more than I expected,” she says. Her future points toward social entrepreneurship in education. Milena wants to work with young people in vulnerable situations — because she believes her own trajectory depended heavily on luck, and that should not be the rule. “Sometimes someone reaches high school and needs to take a job that supports a large part of the household income. How can that person even think about studying?” For now, her plan involves Economics and the stability it can provide. “If I want to change the world, I need to take care of my own backyard first,” she summarizes. The path to get here This journey almost always begins before university — and almost always requires a kind of courage that does not appear in application forms. Henrique Rocha Bomfim , 22, in his ninth semester of Computer Engineering, is the first in his family to attend university. Raised in the São Mateus district, in the eastern zone of São Paulo, he learned early that the path to opportunities can be literal: living nearly two hours away from Insper, he stayed at school from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. — not only to study, but because he did not feel safe returning home with his laptop at certain times. For years, he followed a routine of sleeping around four hours per day. In elementary school, in the public system, an opportunity emerged to change his path: at 14, he was selected for the Ismart program (an Insper partner) and began studying at a private school on Avenida Paulista. Insper came into view in 2019, and the impact was immediate. “When I first visited Insper, I was completely amazed,” he says. Olympiads, robotics, programming followed — and a conviction that strengthened over time. His international exchange was the most tangible proof: the first time he left Brazil, Henrique traveled alone to Germany. “Until then, the farthest I had ever gone in my life was my grandfather’s house in Bahia.” In six months, he visited 12 countries. Back in Brazil, he is about to graduate — and his mother, who started a Nursing degree one month after he entered Insper, graduated at the end of last year. The scholarship changed more than one life. Still as a student, Henrique has already built a strong professional track record. In January 2025, he completed a paid IT internship in the Investment Funds area at BTG Pactual. During his exchange in Germany in the second semester of 2025, he independently secured an internship in Web App development at BASF headquarters. “The internship was in English, and earning in euros opened up new life opportunities,” he says. For some students, the turning point comes when life demands a decision that can no longer be postponed. Anderson Benjamim dos Santos , 26, in his eighth semester of Business Administration, knows this feeling well. In Juazeiro do Norte (CE), his hometown, he worked during the pandemic to support his family while his Law degree at a public university was suspended — first as a waiter, then as a delivery driver. “I worked delivering chicken to help cover household expenses,” he says. A motorcycle accident changed everything: “A car drove the wrong way, hit me, I broke my femur — and it was during recovery that I learned about Insper.” The push came from his mother, who saw a social media post announcing that entrance exam applications would close in three days: “You’ve spent a long time investing in us, son. Now it’s time to invest in yourself,” she told him. The scholarship and support mechanisms did the rest. In place of a narrow horizon came an internship at Ambev and career plans that include consulting and teaching. “In the future, I want to return to Juazeiro do Norte and teach. I want to become a professor someday,” he says. For now, he uses his free time to pursue his literary interests: he is preparing to launch his short story book Amores, Pactos e Mortes, scheduled for March at Insper. What contrast reveals For others, change is experienced as displacement — geographic, emotional, and symbolic. Rhamyle Fabres de Oliveira , 21, in her seventh semester of Law, moved from Belford Roxo, in the metropolitan region of Rio de Janeiro, to São Paulo at 18, alone, after being admitted. Her choice of Insper had a clear rationale: she wanted a place where Law — a traditional degree — would connect with programming, economics, and entrepreneurship. “I wanted to be somewhere I could study Law but also engage with more modern areas.” Her future project is clear: to begin as a lawyer and later pursue a judicial career. With eight siblings — she describes herself as “the middle child” — and on track to become the first in her family to complete higher education, she also carries a pressure she does not romanticize. The beginning was difficult: anxiety during exams, difficulty building connections, and two semesters with failed courses. “I studied a lot during the semester, but when the exams came, everything hit at once.” Adapting took time, but the journey led her to an idea she wants to explore in her final project: “Consciousness arises from contrast.” At Insper, she says she realized that where she came from “is not a limit” — and that dreams once unlikely can become concrete goals. One personal example: she flew on a plane for the first time last year, on a R$100 promotional flight between São Paulo and Rio. Her next goal, if she is accepted into an exchange program, is to go much farther — to Strasbourg, France. “It’s because I’m at Insper that I can even imagine doing an exchange, visiting Europe, becoming a judge one day,” she says. A thousand lives, one network What connects these four stories is not a single script, but a pattern of transformation: talent meeting structure, effort meeting support, dreams meeting community. Milena speaks of belonging from the very beginning. Anderson describes what changes when opportunity stops being abstract and becomes part of daily life. Rhamyle shows how access is also about perspective — and how perspective reshapes an entire life. Henrique reveals how accumulated educational opportunities can open the world: from public school to Ismart, from Insper to international exchange, from an interest in technology to a global career. In each case, the Scholarship Program is not a detail, but the condition that allows the promise of merit to become reality. When Milena learned she would be the program’s one-thousandth scholarship recipient, the milestone gained both a face and a sense of responsibility. “I was amazed, because the Scholarship Program transforms lives: it’s a thousand lives transformed and a thousand opportunities created,” she says. The number is significant, but its meaning is not statistical: it lies in the journeys it represents — from Jardim Ângela to the classroom, from Juazeiro do Norte to an internship at a multinational company, from Belford Roxo to a judicial career project, from São Mateus to engineering and the world. Since 2004, Insper’s Scholarship Program has not only expanded access; it has created the conditions for students to stay, grow, and give back to society what they received in the form of education. Ultimately, this is what the milestone celebrates: a network of possibilities that grows person by person — and, in growing, transforms everything around it."}]