SIXTH-GRADER JOHN WESLEY Medina may not have graduated with honors from the Food for Hungry Minds School (FHMS) in Makati City.

But the 12-year-old Manila resident expressed confidence that ?one day, I would come back here as a teacher.? Medina, ?Badong? to his teachers and classmates, said it would be his way of paying back the school and those who sponsored his education for the past three years.

Medina and 24 other indigent kids, all from Pandacan and Paco districts in Manila, have just completed a three-year ?educational intervention? program. FHMS offers only Grades 4-6.

?We all received a great education here, something more than a stepping stone to our future,? said Medina in his ?speech of gratitude? at the recent graduation of FHMS Class Mapagkawang-gawa.

School principal Candice de Ausen said they chose Medina to speak on behalf of his class because he was the class leader.

Established in 2004 by the IT firm Navitaire, FHMS has a branch in Barangay Bangkal, Malolos, Bulacan where 28 sixth-graders graduated last week. Like their Makati counterparts, the students? free education was made possible by corporate sponsors like General Mills, Navitaire-Accenture and Cargill, and an undisclosed number of Good Samaritans in the United States and the Chinese-Filipino community here.

P60,000 per child

At FHMS, a yearly commitment of P60,000 per child goes to the purchase of books, school supplies, school uniforms and shoes, as well as transportation and basic medical health care, plus free breakfast and lunch. FHMS also accepts smaller cash donations, giving sponsors the ?chance to make a difference in the lives of Hungry Minds? and an ?opportunity to change the world one life at a time,? said de Ausen.

Medina said FHMS students were taught to live life with a higher purpose. Aside from his sponsors, he also thanked his teachers for their ?hard work and dedication.? In his speech, the Pandacan resident paid tribute to his mother Imelda and older brother Jethro for their ?encouragement and support.? Medina asked his fellow graduates, including valedictorian Dianne Dapog, to ?move on separately after FHMS. But I believe that each of us, carrying the heart of a Hungry Mind, will continue persevering to conquer tomorrow.?

Dapog said the non-sectarian FHMS was a ?one-of-a-kind school...Masaya po dito. Ang dami kong friends and they?re always there for me, lalo na kung meron akong problema. Each morning before regular class starts, our teachers allow us to share our feelings with our classmates. We?re like one big happy family.?

Poor but blessed

Dapog finished Grades 1-3 at the Lucban Elementary School in Paco. Her parents, Gregorio and Victoria, who attended the graduation ceremonies, said they were very happy their daughter was the recipient of the FHMS Excellence Awards in Mathematics and Filipino (equivalent to grades of 92 percent and above), Academic Distinction Awards in English, Science, Makabayan and Character Development (90 to 91.9 percent average), as well as an award for perfect school attendance.

Dapog said her family ?may be poor, but I consider myself blessed because of my FHMS scholarship.?

The Department of Education-recognized school uses the curriculum of the Ayala Foundation?s Center of Excellence in Public Elementary Education (Centex).

At FHMS, ?we have longer hours (7 a.m.-4:30 p.m.) and instructions here are more intensive. We?re only offering Grades 4, 5 and 6 because we believe that the most effective intervention should be in middle school, which will translate into success in high school and then college. We also have free tutoring services on weekends, courtesy of Navitaire-Accenture staff, among others,? de Ausen said.

?We also assist in the high school placement of our graduates, some of whom we still support, in schools like Paco Catholic School, Philippine Normal University Lab High School, Don Bosco Technical Institute and Manila Science High School,? she said.

When the school started in 2004, ?there were kids who didn?t even dare to dream beyond being a housewife or a singer in Japan. But now we have children who want to be lawyers, accountants and doctors,? the principal said.

The non-government group Families and Children for Empowerment and Development helps FHMS screen its scholar applicants, balancing aptitude, academic potentials and actual family needs, de Ausen said.

Graduation speaker Sol Antonette Gomez, Cargill?s human resources department head, said they were ?happy that (Class 2009) developed the perseverance and the discipline to focus on what you have to do to be able to graduate today... But only you can make your dream come true. How? Always remember what the FHMS and your teachers taught you.?

Gomez is also president of the FHMS board of trustees. FHMS board members include Hilda Cleofe of the American Chamber of Commerce Foundation; lawyer Augusto Bundang of the Sapalo, Valdez, Bundang and Bulilan Law Offices; Ma. Regina Clamor of Accenture, Patrick Caoile of the Vulcan Mining Corp., Ramon Miranda of Centex, Balki Radhakrishnan of Cereal Partners Worldwide, and Jennifer Que of Navitaire-Accenture.

Prospective donors may get FHMS commitment forms through www.foodforhungryminds.org or e-mail foodforhungryminds@yahoo.com or visit the Makati school at the Union of Church of Manila on Legazpi and Rada streets, Legazpi Village, tel. 8875717.