The letter, not my own.

Dear Friends,

In 2000, I was one of those hopefuls who rode the bus, left the province and went to Manila to get my college degree. I was to enroll at UP Diliman but something told me (my brother and 2 aunts who were accompanying me) to go visit Ateneo and see what it's like before proceeding with my enrollment. And so we went, and a few minutes later I knew that it is at the Ateneo where I wanted to study. I don't know why I wanted to go there and to be honest, I've only heard about the school a few months back when a couple of my classmates were accomplishing their application forms.

I reserved my slot, went home and informed Mommy about the change of plans. She was surprised and asked where we would get the money to support my education. I answered her jokingly that it is their job to worry about it and not mine because they are the parents. I was 16 then and didn't know the consequences of that 'sudden' change of mind.

We were not 'poor' but a year later, I began to understand how it was 'not easy' to support an Ateneo education together with all the expenses incurred by living away from home, etc. Mommy slightly hinted that maybe I should transfer to UP. It is around this time that I applied for a scholarship. I would spend time at the Loyola Schools Chapel every chance I get praying that my application would get approved. I still don't know why but I know I wanted to stay.

I think it was sometime during the summer of 2001 that I got the news that I was granted a 50% scholarship. And in the succeeding years, it was increased to 75% up to 100% in my senior year. My benefactor was the Ateneo Alumni Scholars Association (AASA). My scholarship materialized from the contributions of people who are giving back by paying it forward to the next set of students who just like them needed the financial aid years ago.

I do not know the names of the people who contributed to my own scholarship and I'm sure they were not really thinking of me when they gave their donations. And it is for this reason that I am more compelled to be as generous to others regardless of who they are, just as how these people were to me. And this generosity goes beyond the financial aspect — it could also be in the form of giving time and effort to help others.

In my philosophy of religion classes, I've learned about the cycle of Chance-Choice-Grace. And I would like to believe that it was by chance that I visited the Ateneo just in time to be able to reserve a slot. It was by choice that I wanted to stay there. And it is by the grace of God that he brought these generous people to help me and others who had the same situation.

I was not an 'Iskolar ng Bayan' because my education was not paid for by the taxes of the public. But I am more than glad to know that I was an 'Iskolar ng Mabubuting-Loob' whose money were not automatically deducted from their payroll accounts but still generously donated so that someone maybe able to finish his/her studies.

I am forever thankful. And I am trying to live it right to make this great act of kindness worth it.

2004 Ateneo Alumna