SM to present 2016 scholar graduates
SM scholar graduates of school year 2015-2016 will gather at the SMX Convention Center of the Mall of Asia Arena for a testimonial dinner in their honor and to meet their benefactor Henry Sy Sr. and his family on May 25.
Parents of the graduates, offi cials of partner schools of SMFI, members of the academe, clients and friends of the SM conglomerate will be present at this dinner.
It will be a memorable event for the 224 graduates whose dreams of improving their lives are being fulfilled, thanks to the generosity of Henry Sy Sr. who envisioned the scholarship program for deserving public high school graduates.
Graduates from the Visayas, Mindanao, Bicol region, Cordillera and Southern Luzon will fly to Manila to attend the ceremonies.
They will be billeted in hotels around the SMX and will be off ered jobs from the SM Group of Companies in the morning of the event. They will rehearse for a program to be presented during the dinner.
Keynote speaker is TV host Kim Atienza.
This year’s graduates produced five summa cum laudes, 11 magna cum laudes, 46 cum laudes, and 11 graduates with academic distinction comprising 32.6 percent of the total scholar graduates. Among those who graduated as summa cum laude is Roma Jane Hechanova, a BS Education graduate at the University of St. La Salle in Bacolod City.
Hechanova is the eldest among five children. She finished her high school with honors at the Bacolod City National High School. Her aunt and late grandmother helped her through high school.
Asked how she learned about the SM scholarship program, Hechanova said “I knew about the SM scholarship program through my classmates who also applied. But way back 2012, I already met Linda Atayde of SMFI during the final interview for the Kabayan Foundation’s Search for the Ten Outstanding Public School Students of the Philippines. At that time, I was told that the Top 10 awardees will become SM scholars. I was one of the 10 awardees when I got an Academic Excellence Award for the Visayas.”
At a young age, Hechanova wanted to be a teacher so she pursued that course, and with her love for books she majored in English.
She intends to take the Licensure Examination for Teachers and teach in public schools. Apart from being a teacher, Hechanova is a poet and writer, and for the past 10 years a campus journalist. “I am a very determined woman deeply committed to my goals,” she said.