I remember attending my elementary school classes in a classroom packed with wall to wall kids it was standing room only. Our teacher barely had a place to stand. She used an old music stand to hold her notebook and lesson plans. She had no room for a desk least of all a platform or a chair. On one side of the classroom the wall was totally covered with a blackboard. Nobody wanted to sit in the front row for fear of the chalk dust. From what we were told, public schools received no help from the government.

My teacher's favorite expression to me was, "You are a diamond in the rough." I have often wondered what she meant by that. Was it because I wore the same T-shirts to school and the same raggedy blouses and skirts? Was it because I come from a very poor family whose dwelling would not be considered a house but a shanty by the stream?

My parents worked and struggled hard on the farm. Being tenant farmers they got to keep a half of what they produced, the other half going to the landlord. It was a life of poverty. It was a scratch and peck situation. There was no money to speak of, we ate what we produced and for clothes we used old flour sacks and some relief clothing from the CARE packages sent from overseas by UNESCO.

Winning a SAS Ai scholarship was a dream come true for me. My grades were respectable and I graduated the valedictorian of my graduating class. Still, this scholarship award came as a complete surprise and it was a windfall. My parents were ecstatic and drowning in disbelief. Imagine a full 4-year scholarship award? If you were to ask me what I think of SAS Ai's program, I would say it has been a Godsend.

For that matter, my motivation for wanting to finish my high school education at SAS remains strong. It is centered on my desire to maintain my high academic standing. It is strengthened by family pride. I want my parents to see me succeed. I do not see any obstacles, I see no hindrances, and my vision of the future is very clear. I will graduate high school with honors. It is my destiny and my goal.

To me, this SAS Ai scholarship is a gift from God. I believe in the SAS Ai motto, "Education is Freedom."

Have you ever dreamed of achieving success in some way, shape or form? For example, when we were yet young playing games like "rubberband sinokit," you know, where the object of the game is to snag the most of the buried rubber bands with your shish-kebab skewer? Well, with each pass with the "i-it" through the mound of dust that concealed the rubber bands you were thinking of snagging most if not all the buried rubber bands!

And how about when you were a little bit older, say, a high school student newly discovering that girls were quite desirable creatures as opposed to just being "gals" - well, didn't you ever dream of being the one successful admirer who gets her attention?

The photo at above left is the lovely Jessa Lastimosa - one of our SAS Ai scholars who is presently a high school senior student at SAS.

And now here is something that you can actually aspire to achieve. How would you like to wear this T-shirt that proclaims that you are a SAS Ai scholar? Wouldn't you feel like a million dollars?

This special T-shirt with the appropriate logo differentiates you from the rest of the crowd. It proclaims your academic excellence, your mental skills, your ability to study, your tenacity at doing whatever it takes to maintain your good grades.

To be a SAS Ai scholar is quite an accomplishment. Mind you, the competition is keen and spread all over the Public Schools and SAS elementary. By winning one of the awards you really differentiate yourself. You should wear it proudly and uphold its meaning and message with your own personal dedication and example.

We hear many reports about scholarship offers to sixth grade students. It seems as if the rains came and suddenly mushrooms sprouted overnight. There are those groups going around offering awards to enthused students. These poor students are not used to having their hopes raised up. Fact is, they are pretty much resigned to their moneyless fate. They will continue with school, perhaps even graduate, but mind you, they will attend school most tentatively.

SAS Ai approaches their scholarship offerings differently. There is no small talk shared over the fence. The Field Team trudges even to the remotest areas in their quest to seek out, have a conversation and to interview prospective candidates. Never minding the inaccessibility of some family dwellings, not being deterred by recalcitrant head teachers and apathetic principals, the SAS Ai Field Team forges on.

Word has leaked out that some other entity calling itself a scholarship grantor has jumped at the head of the reporting line. There in full view the pictures of their selectees adorn the forums. This is great and we are excited for the kids. They are getting their due recognition and furthermore, they are promised assistance in pursuing their high school dreams.

Back at SAS Ai Headquarters Tagudin, personal notes are being compiled and compared among the three members of the Field Team. Reports have to be submitted to the home office in Florida. From there, the Scholarship Committee evaluates the candidates' credentials and then the selection process proceeds. The beneficiaries of the program are then re-visited by the Field Team and interviewed with their families. Here at this meeting, SAS Ai explains what is expected of the student, of the parents, and in turn what they can expect from SAS Ai. Stake holders are identified. The student is instructed as to what to do if in case he or she needs assistance on other school matters.

Compared and contrasted, these entities offering these scholarship awards may operate at different levels of efficiency. They may even differ in philosophy and processes. Ultimately however, they both benefit the student, specially the bright, young, promising student that comes from a poor and needy family.

SAS Ai intends to walk with their scholar recipients along the hard, long road and journey toward the end, all the way up to graduation. This is the only way we see us operating to help our student. For having given him or her the opportunity to succeed, we will dedicate ourselves to making sure that they at least get the support they need when they need it.

Being away from home, working overseas, and practically having stayed away from the strains of provincial life and existence, one could barely relate, if at all, to the strife and hardships that folks regularly go through as a matter of course. But through the contact made by our field team of SAS Ai scholarship interviewers, we can get some sense of exactly what kind of challenges poor families back home face.

Take this family of 10. A father, mother and eight children. The father works at a bakery run by a relative. He does not draw any wages. He gets paid when the pan de sal sells, or the pan de limon is all sold - a mere pittance, nothing regular. The mother is a homemaker. She does a couple of loads of laundry for the towns folk twice a week. Whatever she makes goes to the kitty to buy rice and staples eaten for the day. The four eldest kids work at a fast food chain and in the open market, their combined wages contributed to the family coffers and again used primarily for food.

The seventh child shows great promise. She had been the one sent to school and she has just graduated from sixth grade as the first pupil to score the highest in her class. She is the valedictorian and class president. This girl shows all the necessary attributes of an excellent student, a promising leader, and a successful academic. Her parents are willing to scrimp and scratch, claw and dig to get her to continue her studies through high school. She is a shoo-in to the Public high school system but desires very much to attend St Augustine School for her secondary education.

Our Field Team of interviewers conversed with this young lady since she was highly recommended by her principal as a viable candidate for a SAS Ai scholarship. All our SAS Ai personnel were amazed and pleasantly surprised at how skillfully this young girl represented herself and her ambitions, her dreams and aspirations while being interviewed. She wrote an essay that clearly showed she had the academic preparation to be successful at SAS. The field team gave her a three star rating, which is the highest rating given to all interviewees.

Judging from the family circumstances, you would not have expected dedication such as this coming from a girl who was so young and disadvantaged. What a wonderful find and a great revelation. We are so proud we were able to find her and to offer her a scholarship package.