Glenda Galino Tayongtong’s first choice when she was deciding where to go for college was Central Philippine University in Iloilo City. But with the small earnings of her parents as farmers, there was no way they could send her to college, especially a private university.
“Central Philippine University is one of the best schools in our area,” she shared.
Her desire notwithstanding, attending the school seemed impossible. Thankfully, her sister, who was then working as a sales clerk at SM Delgado, saw a poster announcing the SM scholarship program of the SM Foundation, Inc. (SMFI).
“If it wasn’t for my SM scholarship, my parents couldn’t really afford to send me to this school,” said Tayongtong, who immediately landed a job after graduation.
“I was immediately accepted as marketing assistant of SCMC because I was an SM scholar. I got this title na ‘magaling yan kasi SM scholar,’” she shared.
Today, she works as business development manager of Avon Cosmetics, Inc., handling Iloilo branches. She attributes where she is now to SM Foundation.
“I think they accepted me because of my work experience at SM. I was able to build a career path which I really like. Believe it or not, every time I pray, I always include SM in my fervent prayers, dahil utang ko kay SM ang maganda kong buhay ngayon,” she related.
In the high school where Evan John V. Balsomo graduated, only a few could make it to the next step.
“It is seldom that graduates from our school could make it to college, thread the process, and successfully graduate,” he shared. That was why many of his fellow seniors were looking for scholarship opportunities before graduation.
After hearing about the SM College Scholarship from his aunt working in Bacolod, Balsomo immediately applied and took the exam along with more than a hundred students.
“I remembered being greeted by a warm smile by the interviewer, Ms. Ling Lansang,” he recalled. “After a week, I received a call from her telling me that I was accepted, and I could not help but be teary-eyed.
“I was delighted and grateful that I could help lessen the financial burden of my parents and that I was a step closer to my dream to become an engineer. At that time, I could not be more excited to be part of the SMFI family!” he enthused.
Balsomo studied BS Mechanical Engineering at the Technological University of the Philippines-Visayas. He is now employed as maintenance planner at Maple Leaf Consumer Foods, Inc. in Winnipeg, Canada.
Aside from helping him graduate and get a degree that landed him his job, the scholar-alumnus said that his confidence was bolstered through the various enrichment activities provided by the SMFI to its scholars.
“I gained more confidence after I joined the activities and enrichment programs such as the yearly gathering of scholars. I also volunteered in assisting during the scholarship admission test. These surely boosted my people skills, as well as my organizational and multi-tasking skills.”
SM Foundation, through its scholarship program, provides deserving and qualified students, like Glenda Tayongtong and Evan Balsomo, access to college education and technical-vocational studies since 1993. To date, SMFI has produced more than 7,600 college and tech-voc scholar-graduates nationwide.