Ateneo College Batch '98 donates ₱3.5 million for Ateneo scholars

Alumni from Ateneo College Batch 1998 made two generous donations totaling ₱3.5 million for scholarship programs in Ateneo. The batch presented the donations following the mass at the Church of the Gesú on 6 October 2024, which was also sponsored by College Batch 98.

The two donations are for the Ateneo College Scholarship Program managed by the Office of Admission and Aid and the scholarship program of the Ateneo Alumni Association (AAA).

The donation of ₱1.5 million, intended for the Ateneo 98 Balik, Agila! Fund, will support the tuition and fees of a financially needy scholar at Ateneo College. 

The Ateneo College Scholarship Program currently supports around 2,000 scholars. The donation comes as the OAA looks to relaunch fundraising efforts for college scholarships in time for the University’s 165th year to sustain the consistent increase in the number of college scholars over the last five years.

Meanwhile, the donation of ₱2 million to the AAA will benefit the Order of the Blue Eagles (OBE). The OBE is the flagship scholarship program of the AAA, established under the leadership of then-president and now Chairman Emeritus, Agustin Bengzon. OBE scholarships help deserving but financially challenged students in all educational units of Ateneo de Manila University.

To show their gratitude for the donation, OAA presented Batch '98 with a certificate recognizing the donation as well as a token gift of a Blue Eagle Funko Pop! figure.

The donations were part of the batch’s celebrations of its 25th or Silver anniversary. As part of the latter, they challenged themselves to raise at least ₱2.5 million for Ateneo scholarships. They chose the name “Balik, Agila!” to symbolize going “back home” and giving back to Ateneo. In addition, the letters “Ag” also represent the chemical symbol for Silver, representing their 25th anniversary. 

In addition to the two donations made that Sunday, the batch also raised another ₱1.5 million for the Darwin Yu Scholarship fund.