New Scholarship to help a BS ME student

Miguel Warren (BS Management Engineering 1998) just made Christmas come early with his life-changing gift. The alumnus recently signed a Memorandum of Agreement with Ateneo de Manila University president Fr. Roberto C. Yap SJ in a virtual ceremony held last September 24, 2021, to create the MKK Scholarship.

The MKK Scholarship (which stands for the names of Mr. Warren, his wife, Kristine and daughter, Katie) will cover the tuition and fees for four years of one deserving and well-rounded scholar who is passionate about social issues while pursuing a BS Management Engineering degree. 

Miguel, currently based in Hong Kong with his family, spent his formative years abroad, then went back to the Philippines to complete his college education at Ateneo.  

“To be perfectly honest, back then I wanted to go to a university in the US. It was my parents who said,’ you should go home and reconnect with your roots.’ While I didn’t know back then that it was the best thing for me, in hindsight, I never would have met Kristine (also connected to Ateneo for many years as a Physical Therapist with Moro Lorenzo Sports), I never would have had my family, and I never would have been in this situation,” he said.  “The ME program played a big part in bringing me where I am today. In high school, I had always considered myself a pretty good student. But when I joined ME, I got knocked down back to earth; it was a challenging program— very academically rigorous.”

The scholarship, he added, is a “gift of opportunity.”

“This is a gift of opportunity —the opportunity to participate not just in the academics, but also in all of the opportunities that an Ateneo ME degree will bring in the future. We hope that the deserving recipient of this scholarship will be able to capitalize on all of these opportunities.”

In return, Fr. Yap expressed his gratitude for this generous gift.

“You are really a global citizen and even after your stay in Ateneo, you continue to be a global citizen with very strong roots. It’s really great that we are able to produce and form global citizens—leaders who are ready to face not only the challenges of the Philippines but who can really serve, prosper, and flourish in other countries and culture.”

The ME program, he said, is Ateneo’s “pride and joy.”

“It is one of the most innovative things that Ateneo de Manila has done. It’s not engineering but it is also not just management. It’s an innovative and creative way to train people with a strong liberal arts curriculum.”

Aside from Fr Yap, also in attendance from Ateneo in the Virtual MOA Signing were Dr. Mari-Jo Ruiz (Professor Emeritus of the Mathematics Department), Dr. Luis Dumlao (Dean of the John Gokongwei School of Management (JGSOM), Dr. Jo-Ed Tirol (OAA Director), Mr. Bong Olpoc (Chairman of the Quantitative Methods and Information Technology Department and the Management Engineering Program Director), Ms. Jolly Morata (Assistant to the Director for Scholarships), Ms. Rosalydele Bajao, Ms. Jochebed Burias and Ms. Christine Magboo (Scholarship Officers), and Ms. Anna Geronimo (Admin Assistant of the JGSOM Office of the Dean).

The MKK Scholarship is part of the Scholarship Campaign of the Federation of Ateneo Management Engineers (FAME), which started in 2009 to celebrate the ME Program’s 40th anniversary. FAME continuously supports the Ateneo College Scholarship Program as it celebrated its 50th year last 2019. To date, the group has raised P63M from numerous BS ME Alumni to support the tuition and fees expenses of BS ME Scholars in the Loyola Schools. During the MOA Signing, FAME was represented by Mr. Wesley dela Cruz (BS ME 2018, FAME Scholarship Coordinator), Ms. Inah Fuentes (BS ME 1998) and Mr. Johan Chan (BS ME 2017), both FAME Scholarship Committee Members.