Honor from opportunity: A scholar’s journey

John Daryl Pitcheller, a civil engineering student from Adamson University in Manila, was recently given the honor of presenting his ground-breaking research on PVC Waste at the International Conference on the Environmental Quality Concern (EQC) in the National Kaohsiung Marine University, Taiwan.

In his presentation, entitled Waste Polyvinyl Chloride as Tensile Reinforcement to Asphalt Pavement, he proposed that instead of throwing away waste PVC materials, these should be recycled and used as an additive to asphalt to improve the tensile strength of pavements.

The conference panel, and delegates – from all over South East Asia – were impressed.

John Daryl was a beneficiary of a British School Manila run scholarship program instrumental in giving him a chance to pursue his studies. “The British Education Inc.’s Scholarship Program (BEI), run by volunteers from the British School Manila (BSM), really opens the door to a lot of opportunities to students like me,” he said.

BSM usually only supports scholars until they graduate college, but the school will often go one step further if they see an opportunity for one of their scholars to shine.

“I did not know that the BEI program would continue to support me in attending this international event,” John said.

Vice chair of the British School Manila board of governors, Brendan Egan, who along with a handful of local staff volunteers from BSM run the BEI Scholarship Program. The initiative, which is 100% funded by the British School Manila helps graduate students from Taguig’s public schools reach their dream of graduating college, through the provision of a full scholarship to the college and course of their choice.

“A BEI scholarship covers full tuition for any specified course, at any specified college in Metro Manila,” said Egan. “All necessary books are paid for upon presentation of an official receipt, as is any required uniform. An allowance is also provided for snacks and transportation,” he added.