More than 300 SM Foundation scholar graduates got the chance to meet their benefactors in a ceremonial gala at the SMX Convention Center recently.
To honor their scholars for school year 2017-2018, Henry Sy, Sr. and his family tendered a testimonial dinner on June 27, 2018 for their 333 scholars, their biggest number of scholar graduates to date.
A total of 149 scholars from the National Capital Region, 115 from Luzon, 57 from Visayas and 12 from the Mindanao region from 105 partner universities and colleges throughout the country, together with their parents or guardians, attended the short program to celebrate the 22nd batch and presentation of graduates by the foundation.
Loida Ongteco de Vera, the day’s Guest Speaker and part of the first batch of SM Scholars herself, shared her memorable and inspirational journey from being a scholar-student to what she is now—giving back to SM as Operations Manager of SM Hypermarket.
“Congratulations for they finished the journey, and I want to welcome them to the real world,” said De Vera. “I encourage them to give back in any way they can, not necessarily to SM, but to their family, their community.”
Earlier in the day, the graduates, many of whom flew in from their respective regions, were offered jobs in various SM offices in Manila and the provinces, led by two Accountancy summa cum laudes Jedda Pascual from Ateneo De Davao and Danielle Francis Olsen from Universtiy of Negros Occidental-Recoletos.
A total of 105 scholars graduated with Latin honors, including the two with summa cum laude, 26 magna cum laudes and 50 cum laudes, while 27 scholars finished with academic distinctions. Among the achievers are the Yolanda scholars from Samar, Leyte who were heavily affected by the Category 5 typhoon. Yolanda scholars Lady Alpha Fermano, Ariane Nierves and Clarissa Buenvenida, talked with the Manila Standard during the event and relayed how they strived to achieve their dreams and continue their studies despite their experience, with Fermano narrating her story in front of her batchmates later in the evening.
“For now, my plan is to continue the philosophy of people helping people,” she stated.
Buenvenida said she’s “very thankful to (SM foundation),” as they helped her “develop my skills and learn to open up to others.”
“At our lowest point, nawalan ng trabaho ang papa ko, eh housewife lang naman nanay ko, but luckily SM came po at a very good time and napakalaking tulong po sa pag-aaral ko,” said Destiny “Des” M. Lamano, 22, from Cebu Institute of Technology.
“As an SM scholar, natutunan ko na ang kahirapan ay hindi hadlang para ma-achieve mo ang gusto mo,” said Carl Abraham Castañares from UE-Caloocan, adding that he plans to shoulder the education of his younger siblings now that he has finished college.
SM Foundation maintains 2,000 college scholars yearly and another 2,000 tech-voc scholars.
So far, more than 3,000 scholars have graduated under the SM Foundation Education Program.
Photos by Charles Arvin Dantes