Alumni Pay it Forward

The number of SMU Alumni who show their gratitude to their alma mater by paying it forward is growing, with many leaving their mark by offering awards or scholarships to future needy students. This perpetuates the cycle of giving and sharing.

Since the first batch of graduates in 2003, there have been gifts by both group and individual alumni donors from the different schools, expressed in various forms.

Alumni from the Graduating Class of 2010 established the Graduating Class of 2010 Scholarship as their first gift to their alma mater. More than half of the Class of 2010 contributed to the Senior Class Gift, establishing three scholarships, each valued at $10,000, to defray the tuition fees of deserving undergraduates for one year of study at SMU.

One individual donor is Shashank Nigam, an alumnus from the pioneer batch of the School of Information Systems (SIS), who offered prize money for two awards for SIS students and staff who can come up with a project that best demonstrates an innovative way of using information technology. Named the Dileep and Anita Nigam Award in Education Technology (in honour of his parents who encouraged him to pursue an education in information technology) and the SimpliFlying Award, the awards are aimed to benefit people from developing countries.

Explaining his motivation, Shashank said: “I hope to empower students in developing nations, who may not have access to the great education that I was fortunate enough to receive, to leverage on the opportunities a good education can offer.”

An alumnus who has been a long-time donor is Darren Lim. On an exchange programme at the Wharton School in Pennsylvania in 2006, the Accountancy graduate saw a wall that bore the inscriptions of students who have offered scholarships to future needy students. Deeply impressed, he brought the idea back to his School and asked his Dean if he could have a scholarship named after his parents, funded from his first paycheck. The Ee Seng and Claire Lim Accountancy Scholarship is available to local Bachelor of Accountancy undergraduates at SMU since 2006.

Business alumnus Lawrence Kim now runs a successful technical inspection company. He expressed his gratitude by setting up the Kim’s Entrepreneur Scholarship, funded by his company Ebenezer NDT Services Pte Ltd, to enable business undergraduates to pursue the entrepreneurial path.

Another Business alumnus, who chooses to remain anonymous, pledged $20,000 towards the Krishna Exchange Scholarship for deserving full-time SMU undergraduates to spend a semester of studies overseas with an SMU partner university for international student exchange.

Recently graduated, accountancy alumnus Leong Meijun is so appreciative of the education she had received at the School of Accountancy that she not only set up the $4,000 PT Grace Lee Accountancy Scholarship for current students from the School, she also named the scholarship after the Dean, Professor Pang Yang Hoong and Associate Dean Themin Suwardy (‘P’ for Pang and ‘T’ for Themin) whom she owes a debt of gratitude to. ‘Grace Lee’ is the name of her 18-month-old daughter.

By setting up a scholarship, Meijun hopes to inspire recipients to give back by helping other needy students when they are earning a steady income after graduation. She said: “I am very grateful to SMU who has given me so much not just professionally or also in my personal life. I have benefited from various awards and I hope this cycle of giving can continue for many years to come and many more deserving students will get to benefit from an education at the SMU School of Accountancy.”