Meet our new Learn.Lead.Give. Scholar!

In 2019, Doris Buffett launched the Learn.Lead.Give. Scholarship, in partnership with the Learning by Giving Foundation. This scholarship aims to cultivate a new generation of philanthropists who are not only leaders inside the classroom, but leaders in their community as well. Each year, this scholarship provides one high school senior who has participated in experiential philanthropy education with the opportunity to expand upon these studies through a four-year scholarship to a LxG college partner in the student’s community. 

Over the past year, LxG has been proud to partner with the San Francisco 49ers Foundation’s STEM Leadership Institute (SLI) program to pilot our inaugural high school philanthropy class and recruit a student leader for the new Learn.Lead.Give. Scholarship. LxG was particularly proud to bring experiential philanthropy education into a STEM environment for the first time. Here at LxG, we believe that experiential philanthropy should not be pigeon-holed into one academic discipline or only be offered to those pursuing certain professions. We are working toward a world where thoughtful, ethical philanthropy and community education is the cornerstone of every student’s academic experience and upbringing.

We are proud to have the Learn.Lead.Give. Scholarship serve a small part of that vision. - Amy Kingman, Executive Director of Learning by Giving

Congratulations Vibha Tantry, Learning by Giving’s 2020 Learn.Lead.Give. Scholarship recipient! 

The Learn.Lead.Give. Scholarship Committee was tasked with selecting a student with a demonstrated passion for civic engagement and community leadership and its intersection with philanthropy. The committee was composed of individuals whose passions and devotions were rooted in our work and reflected our mission to giving back. It included: 

• Dr. John York, Co-Chairman of the San Francisco 49ers;
• Sam Kennedy, President and CEO of the Boston Red Sox; 
• Laura Arrillaga-Andreessen, Founder and President of the Laura Arrillaga-Andreessen Foundation and Learning by Giving faculty at Stanford University; 
• David Shapiro, CEO of MENTOR: The National Mentoring Partnership; 
• Erika Walker, Assistant Dean of Undergraduate Programs at the UC Berkeley Haas School of Business; 
• Chris Russi, Founder & CIO of Point-Slope Capital and Learning by Giving alumnus at UC Berkeley; and, 
• Michelle Poon, MBA student at the UC Berkeley Haas School of Business and Learning by Giving alumna

With her commitment to educational equity, passion for volunteerism, and future goals, Vibha embodies the goal of the Learn.Lead.Give. Scholarship. During her junior and senior years at Santa Clara High School, Vibha participated in the first Learning by Giving high school class. Because of her impressive academic work and community leadership, Vibha was selected from a competitive cohort of students to receive the Learn.Lead.Give. Scholarship. 

Growing up in Sunnyvale, California, Vibha attended Ponderosa Elementary School, where she continues to volunteer. While at Cabrillo Middle School and Santa Clara High School, Vibha was a member of the 49ers STEM Leadership Institute, a six-year enrichment program focused on developing design thinking, core values, and technical skills through hands-on challenges, project-based math and science curriculums, and team-building opportunities. Through the program, she found a close-knit community of peers and a passion for leadership. In high school, she became involved with the Girls Who Code organization via their Summer Immersion Program and her high school club. Vibha also earned multiple MVP and Coach’s Awards while she played singles for her high school tennis team. 

In her scholarship application, Vibha described how listening is a powerful skill for any community leader:

It is important to consider the power a single member of a community can have simply by listening to others. I believe I have the capacity to actively listen to the needs and wants of others. I value hearing multiple perspectives on issues, even when I personally do not agree with some of them. By no means am I perfect at this skill; it has taken years to train myself to honestly appreciate other people without lashing and keep an open mind. The Learning By Giving class has played a major role in helping me understand the needs of my community. Coming into the curriculum, I had set ideas about the type of programs needed to alleviate homelessness, our chosen social issue. Yet after many conversations with peers, exploring the many options of resources available in our area, I learned how to consider both the needs of the homeless community, the capacity of the organizations we considered, and our own requirements as grant givers. I think carefully understanding other people’s opinions and abilities is the only way to maintain healthy discourse and productively bring lasting change in the community. 

Vibha is a freshman at UC Berkeley who intends to study Computer Science and Business. We are excited to support Vibha’s education and to see her develop into a changemaker! 

Congratulations, Vibha!