Baguio youths benefit from mall chain’s scholarship program
UNDERPRIVILEGED Baguio City youths have been among the beneficiaries of college scholarships given by SM Foundation Inc., the socio-civic company of Henry Sy Sr.
Of the foundation’s 3,000 scholars, consisting of 1,700 graduates and 1,300 still in school, 35 graduates and 35 current scholars come from Baguio City. Most of the the scholars from the City of Pines have found employment with SM and other companies in the Philippines and abroad.
Linda Atayde, SM Foundation executive director for education, says all scholars come from low-income families, in keeping with their program’s mission to support the college education of bright but financially challenged youths.
The foundation began granting full scholarships to deserving students in Benguet province in 2003, the same year SM City Baguio started operating.
Scholar Jonalyn Panela, 23, was referred by volunteer organization Pathways to Higher Education. She studied civil engineering in Saint Louis University in Baguio on a full scholarship. She is now a project engineer in SM.
The daughter of a single mother who works in a public market, Panela did not think she would be able to go college because she was not receiving any support from her father.
After his father passed away, Mark Jo Vincent Hidalgo lost hope he would finish college.
Hismother is a waitress-cashier in a small restaurant.
The SM scholarship enabled him to pursue a degree in civil engineering. He graduated cum laude and became a licensed civil engineer in 2013.
Atayde says the success of Panela and Hidalgo encourages them to continue their efforts to change lives and lay the foundation for the success of other scholars.