For Dee Jay Araullo, the thought of graduating from college was a dream. Growing up in a household that had a modest income, he understood that entering a private university would entail costs that his family would be ill-equipped to handle.

“My mother used to be a housemaid for a Chinese businessman. Unfortunately, her boss passed away. My father had a stroke when I was in my elementary school. He isn’t bed-ridden, but he is still recovering,” he explained.

Dee Jay was one of the scholars selected by the  SM Foundation College Scholarship Program.

“My friend   told me about the SM Foundation and I applied. I was about to  enroll in a university when I received the call from SM Foundation that I was accepted.    I was thankful as this meant that I would be able to go to school for free as well as have a living allowance, which helped me and my family with the cost of studying in a university,” he said.

Dee Jay graduated this year with a degree in Education, magna cum laude, from the National University.

His story is only one of the 220 stories from the most recent batch of graduates who were introduced to the Sy family last Wednesday.

“Our 220 scholars graduated this year, with 69, or 32 percent, receiving honors,” said Debbie Sy, Executive Director of the SM Foundation.  “We have 6 summa cum laude, 19 magna cum laude, 29 cum laude and 15 with academic distinction.”

The  summa cum laude students are Christian Acosta, Engineering, National University;  Cesar Castillo, Accountancy, Far Eastern University;  Jamaica Englis, Accountancy, University of San Carlos;  Samantha Joyce Mabalot, Accountancy, Far Eastern University; Kenneth Pangilinan,  Accountancy, Holy Angel University, and Cedrick Zapanta, Accountancy, Asia Pacific College.

SM Foundation’s scholarship program has been active since 1993. It is currently partnered with 82 schools and universities.

To date,   1,900 students have graduated from the program with many of them employed in the SM Group of Companies and other companies, both local and abroad.

For Dee Jay, finishing his degree is only the first step. “I can never repay the kindness of Henry Sy Sr. and his family. It’s only right that I pay back by becoming the best teacher that I can be,” he said.