ruce Smith, trustee of the Gordon and Helen Smith Foundation of the United States of America, together with the Alliance of Philippine Partners for Enterprise Development (APPEND) officials – Virginia Juan (President) and Noel Embing (Program Director) recently visited FEU to interact with school officials and APPEND scholars, who are currently enrolled at the University.

With the FEU Bamboo Band providing lively musical renditions of Philippine folk songs, Smith and the APPEND officials were warmly welcomed by the scholars and top school officials led by FEU President, Dr. Lydia Echauz.

The Smith Foundation funds the APPEND University Scholarship Program called “Knowledge for Inspiring Leadership, Opportunities and Spirituality (KILOS) which is celebrating its sixth year of successful implementation of various developmental activities.

Smith shared how the students were selected by APPEND to qualify for the scholarship program and indicated that FEU is the group’s biggest partner as the number of Tamaraw scholars is the highest compared to its other partner schools, which include University of Santo Tomas (UST), University of the East (UE), Philippine Christian University (PCU), MAPUA Institute of Technology (MIT) and Letran College.

As a result of fruitful partnership between FEU and APPEND, a total of 15 students have enjoyed scholarships  – four of whom were already conferred with the Bachelor of Science in Nursing degrees during the 82nd FEU Commencement Exercises. The eleven remaining scholars are currently enrolled in Nursing, Education, Internal Auditing, Biology and Mass Communication. In addition, 2 APPEND scholars are studying at the FEU East-Asia College taking up engineering and information technology.

The APPEND scholarship package covers tuition and miscellaneous fees, food and clothing allowances, dormitory accommodations as well as leadership and spiritual training activities. APPEND scholars get to enroll in schools and academic programs of their choice.

“Through this scholarship, we are really blessed not only financially but also, our hearts were touched. There is a marked improvement in our lives,” said BS Education student Jonash Reyes. Jean Rose Lim, a BS Nursing senior emphasized in her message that no words can ever describe how grateful the scholars are to APPEND and the Smith family who continuously help the children of APPEND micro entrepreneurs get good education.

APPEND specifically exists to facilitate the growth and viability of its partner organizations as well as the continuing development of the poor micro entrepreneurs, their families and communities. Included in its programs are microenterprise development, leadership development and transformation and education.

Founded by Christian businessmen from the Philippines and Opportunity International Australia, APPEND was registered with the Philippine Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in 1991 as a non-stock, non-profit organization.

It was also accredited by the Philippine Council for Non-Government Organization Certification (PCNC) as a credible donee institution. APPEND is motivated by Jesus Christ’s call to serve the poor and allow less privileged Filipino households experience the fullness of life that God intends for all.

Bruce Smith thanked Far Eastern University for the warm reception accorded to his group and the quality of education and training given to the students. “I am very happy that we have so many students [APPEND scholars] in this school,” said Smith. The university-visit was ably handled by the Office of Student Affairs together with the President’s Committee on Culture.

(By Dr. Marcon R. Espino
Coordinator, Student Leadership Development
Office of Student Affairs)