When Jessica Paindiris ’05 and her husband began putting estate plans together after the birth of their children, she knew that she wanted to include a bequest to Yale in their will.
“I realized we weren’t too young to take this step,” she says. “When we sat down to decide where our assets could make a real difference, Yale was top of mind.”
For her entire life, Jessica has been keenly aware of the ways in which a Yale education can change the trajectory of someone’s life.
Her father, Nicholas Paindiris ’68, immigrated to the United States from a hillside village in Rhodes when he was eight years old. He taught himself English and excelled academically in the Hartford, Connecticut, public school system. An adviser suggested he apply to Yale—a university Nicholas had never heard of. His parents didn’t have the means to support him financially, but Yale offered him a full scholarship. “When he arrived on campus, his entire world opened,” says Jessica. “Growing up, he would tell my brother and me all the time about the opportunities that unfolded for him at Yale.”
When the time came for Jessica to make her own college decision, choosing Yale was a “no-brainer,” she recalls. “In a sense, the world opened for me there, too. I met people from so many different backgrounds and learned how to think critically. I also developed a deep interest in art history, which guided my career after graduating.”
In gratitude for her Yale education—and for her father’s—Jessica has made giving back a priority. “Yale changed the course of not only my dad’s life, but his family’s for generations to come. I’m a beneficiary of the path he was set on because of Yale’s generous financial aid, so I wanted to pay that forward,” she says. Her gifts include an endowed scholarship fund for Yale College students and a bequest intention that will go toward Yale’s greatest priorities.
Investing in Yale through that bequest is, as Jessica explains, one way to support a brighter future. “I hope that a hundred years from now, the major challenges of our times will have been solved, from cancer to climate change. As wonderful as that hope is, I also recognize that humanity is always going to be facing enormous challenges, but we can’t necessarily predict what they might be,” she says. “If the past three centuries are any indication, Yale is still going to be around and thriving, with the students, faculty, and research capabilities to help tackle pressing global issues for generations to come.”