THE Henry Sy Foundation recently turned over a newly refurbished 810-square meter school auditorium to the Sacred Heart School-Hijas de Jesus (SHS-HDJ) in Cebu City.
The SHS-HDJ was established in 1956. Among its sister schools are Manresa School on B.F. Homes, Parañaque City and Nazareth School of National University in Sampaloc, Metro Manila.
The Henry Sy Sr. Auditorium, which has a seating capacity of 850, now has new seats, airconditioning unit, lighting fixtures and a generator set.
“With great pleasure and on behalf of the Henry Sy Foundation, we turn over to the Sacred Heart School-Hijas de Jesus the newly renovated Henry Sy Sr. Auditorium. May it enhance the efforts of the school in continuing to provide a well-rounded and quality education to its young students,” said Elizabeth T. Sy, a trustee of the Henry Sy Foundation and an alumna of SHS-HDJ.
Sy is the president of SM Hotels and Conventions Corp.
The foundation signed a memorandum of agreement (MOA) and deed of donation with the SHS-HDJ in July 2015.
SM founder Henry Sy has invested in several schools, including National University, Far Eastern University, where he went to college, and the Asia Pacific College.
Through SM Foundation, the social development arm of SM, Sy has built 75 school buildings with 227 classrooms nationwide since 2002.
SM also donated Henry Sy Sr. Halls, which are multi-story school buildings, to the De La Salle University and to the University of the Philippines.
Staying true to its founder’s belief that education empowers an individual, the foundation invested most of its resources in its scholarship program both for university education and technical-vocation education, as well as in training farmers in modern techniques.
SM Foundation currently supports 1,500 college scholars in 84 partner schools nationwide and 192 students in technical vocation courses.
As of end-2015, SM Foundation trained 2,670 farmers from 337 barangays in 72 municipalities.