Kaplan Singapore rewards a kind deed with another by sponsoring a samaritan’s daughter with an education sponsorship worth nearly $20,000.
Mr John Shu (50), a technician, helped a single mother of four-year-old son, Ms Jaycie Tay, who in 2013 had been struggling with a divorce, by rendering finance assistance for her diploma in Marketing Management at Kaplan Singapore with a gift of about S$6,000 despite having to manage his own daughter’s polytechnic fees.
Kaplan heard about Mr Shu’s kindness and the private school decided to return the favor to him, by sponsoring his daughter, Shermin Shu (22), nearly $20,000 for her tertiary education.
The Straits Times reported that Kaplan has invited Mr Shu and his family to the Kaplan City Campus at Wilkie Edge in Wilkie Road, on Tuesday (13 Dec), where the school surprised him with news of the sponsorship.
Mr Shu received the sponsorship on her daughter’s behalf from Kaplan’s president, Mr Leon Choong because she at present is on holiday in Thailand. He also received a document from Kaplan to recognise his act of generosity.
Ms Tay who were also present at the occasion said that she had been feeling very bad because she had not yet been able to repay Mr Shu, but now she is feeling grateful. “When Kaplan told me that they wanted to recognise his kind heart, I felt like God sent something to help me repay (him),” she said.
Ms Shu said on phone that Kaplan had called her on Tuesday morning with the news, the Straits Times wrote.
“I was lost for words for a moment. Honestly, I thought that I was dreaming, because who would have thought that a simple kind gesture of giving my dad had done would give us such a good reward at the end,” she said.
“One of the struggles for my parents is the school fees for my university studies… With this money from Kaplan’s generous giving, it acts like a motivation for me to work harder for my university studies and, most importantly, lessen the stress for my parents.”
Ms Shu has recently finished her three-year diploma course in visual communication at Nanyang Polytechnic and planned to pursue her interest in arts and design at the university level, either locally or overseas.
Kaplan will reimburse the costs of her entire polytechnic education, worth about $8,000 – $9,000 and will also contribute $10,000 for her university degree, wherever she chooses to attend it.
Kaplan’s president, Mr Choong, touched by Mr Shu and Ms Tay’s story when he read about it, called an emergency board meeting to confer how the school could help Ms Tay.
But they learnt that she has already received aid from the Yellow Ribbon Fund Star Bursary, so they turned to Mr Shu instead.
“John had set in motion a chain of kindness, and in the concept of paying it forward we didn’t want it to end there,” Mr Choong said.
He also informed that Kaplan sets scholarship and sponsorship funds of $250,000 yearly and it is usually to study at Kaplan itself, “But in this particular case we went above and beyond what was the norm, that’s why we had to convene a board meeting,” he said.
Mr Shu in Mandarin said that he did not have any needs, and that he is very happy for his daughter now that she has the money for her further education. He also said that he is very grateful to Mr Choong, “I just want to thank him for giving my daughter this opportunity to study at a university,” he said.
Kavlan commented on its Facebook on the sponsorship,
“The story of Ms Jaycie Tay that we shared last week now comes full circle. Jaycie was at a difficult crossroad of her life when she met Mr John Shu, a kind Samaritan who helped pay for her Diploma in Marketing Management with Kaplan, despite having to manage his own daughter’s polytechnic fees.
Having learnt of Mr Shu’s circumstances, our team thought hard about doing our part to ease his financial burden. We hope our sponsorship of his daughter’s tertiary school fees would benefit the Shu family.
Hats off to a man who pays it forward without expecting anything in return. We hope his story inspires you as much as it did for us. Let’s keep the kindness ball rolling!”
