Corporate Social Responsibility Therma South, Inc. Sustainability

Force x Distance: The future is bright for 23 AboitizPower scholars

July 04, 2018

Six graduates.

Five seniors.

Twelve freshmen.

The doors are opening wider for 23 aspiring engineers under the Purposive Scholarship Program of AboitizPower subsidiary Therma South, Inc. (TSI) and Aboitiz Foundation. The current batch of scholars is composed of 6 fresh graduates who will prepare to take the engineering licensure board exam, 5 who are proceeding to their senior year, and 12 who will start their freshman year at the University of Southeastern Philippines (USeP).

Full steam ahead

The 6 scholars comprise the pioneer graduates under TSI’s purposive college scholarship program which began in 2015. They are Vince Jane Olaer, Renen Faith Gloria, Aldrian Gumapac, King Joshua Manatad, Jon Kristoffer Tagalog, and Oliver Montero. All of them are graduates of BS Electrical Engineering of USeP.

“The future is bright. After all, isn’t work equal to force times distance? Force is the how much effort we put in and distance is how far we have gotten from where we started. Thank you for helping propel us to this point,” said Gloria, who delivered the message in behalf of the graduates.

The pioneering batch apparently have 2 things in common. First, they believe that the scholarship came just at the right time in their life. Second, they have consistently been achievers throughout college and have even received notable citations and awards.

Vince Jane Olaer has been lauded for Outstanding Leadership and Outstanding Student Organization - Society of Electrical Engineering Students (SEES), of which she is President of.

Jon Tagalog and Renen Gloria were also recognized by the Council of Deans of Engineering Education-XI as champions for Best Thesis in the 10th regional Engineering Education Congress when they drew inspiration from TSI’s technology and created an electrostatic precipitator to filter motorcycle smoke emissions.

The six graduates will be continuing under TSI’s scholarship program for their board review assistance.

Bright beginnings

Meanwhile, a total of 12 incoming freshmen have also been accepted into the scholarship program during a memorandum of agreement signing ceremony last 27 June 2018.

The 12 new scholars are a mix of mechanical and electrical engineering students. Vanessa Escalante, Janmil Lenard Pechon, Paul Daniel Callaman, Justhine John Monton, Khrestine Joyce Barraca, Yenna Joyce Sarmiento, Ted Dominic Mellejor, Maribeth Garciso, and Alan Navasquez Jr. will be taking up BS Electrical Engineering while April Joy Albaera, Christian Neil Maghuyop, and Maria Ritchell Nono have enrolled under the BS Mechanical Engineering program.

Maghuyop, Navasquez, and Pechon are from Barangay Binugao, Toril, Davao City, which is TSI’s host community.

A Purposive Scholarship

Now on its 4th year, the scholarship program of TSI and Aboitiz Foundation aims to assist deserving students by extending monthly financial support for their academic needs and through a mentoring program between the scholars and TSI team members.

The scholarship program is also purposive in nature, which means that once the scholars graduate, they will be given the priority if they decide to apply for a job in any Aboitiz business unit.

“Never settle for less. Always hunger for more. Everything is already laid out for you, all you have to do now is to study hard because there’s a better future waiting. You will be driving change for a better world,” imparted TSI Vice President and Plant Manager Valentin Saludes III to their scholars.