SM Foundation, through its Scholarship Program, officially awarded scholarship grants to 200 incoming college students nationwide for this School Year 2020-2021 last August 15 via Zoom platform.
This virtual gathering aimed to officially welcome and orient the new scholars about the benefits of the program, how to maintain their scholarship grants and inspire them to finish their studies through the use of social good stories in order to uplift the economic status of their families.
During the digital event, Carmen Linda Atayde, the Executive Director for SMFI Education programs stressed the importance of having enrichment activities for their scholars.
“Preparing our scholars for a better tomorrow takes more than just sending them to school and handing them cheques. We believe that in order to sustain the engagement of our scholars, we need to regularly conduct regular enrichment and training activities such as the General Assembly, Christmas Party, SM Scholar Recollection, Online Scholarship Platform walkthroughs and Presentation of the Graduates. Through these activities, SMFI is able to further boost the intellectual, emotional and social skills of the SM Scholars. It also enables the SMFI Scholarship team to address the individual needs of each SM Scholar”.
On the other hand, Atty. Jun Borcelis, one of the first scholars of SM, urged the new scholars to strive in their studies, “To all SM scholars, dapat laging magsipag at magtyaga sa buhay, hindi lang sa pag-aaral. When I was young, talagang napakahirap namin. But my mother encouraged us to go to school and finish our studies.”
As the flagship program of SM Foundation, scholars enjoy full tuition and miscellaneous fees subsidy. They also receive monthly stipend and are exposed to various enrichment activities and job opportunities at SM malls during their semestral or Christmas breaks.
After graduating, they also have chance to land their dream jobs in companies within the SM Group.
Before the conclusion of the virtual event, SMFI Executive Director Debbie Sy shared a message to the new SM Scholars, “This scholarship is indeed SM’s gift to you. I hope that you will take care of it, study well and work hard so that you will be able to graduate and reach your goals.”
