Ms Low Yen Ling, Parliamentary Secretary for the Ministry of Trade and Industry and Ministry of Education, Mayor for South West District

Distinguished Guests

Scholars

Ladies and gentlemen

Good morning.

Welcome to the 2015 Asia Pacific Breweries (APB) Foundation Scholarship for Persons with Disabilities Award Ceremony.

This year marks APB Foundation’s 11th year of awarding the Scholarship for Persons with Disabilities. The APB Foundation aims to give back to society based on three main pillars: the community, arts and education. We recognise the importance of a good education and understand that persons with disabilities may face certain difficulties in obtaining one.

Thus we started this unique scholarship in 2004 to help youths with disabilities fulfill their dreams of pursuing a university education. Since there, we have committed over S$1 million in support of 34 scholars and will continue to do so as long as we can.

I am extremely happy to be here today to award this Scholarship to three outstanding young people who have demonstrated excellent academic performance and a strong commitment to advocating for the disability cause. Our first scholar Shalom was diagnosed with a progressively degenerative muscle disease that severely limits his movements, at 4 months old. Undeterred by this, he discovered his talent for contemporary Chinese painting, creating works of art that were sold to raise over $100,000 for the Muscular Dystrophy Association of Singapore, at age 12.

Bryan, our second scholar, did not let his hearing impairment stop him from being an exemplary student, an active volunteer in community and charity work, and highly involved in co-curricular activities such as the National Police Cadet Corps (NPCC) and swimming.

Growing up with Tourette’s Syndrome was not easy for our third scholar Josiah, but with the strong support from his family and friends he conquered feelings of being different to pursue his interests like dance and languages. Josiah hopes to inspire others with Tourette’s Syndrome and raise awareness about this condition.

Shalom, Bryan and Josiah – my heartfelt congratulations to you. It gives me great pleasure to present this scholarship to you on behalf of APB Foundation. I hope that your achievements will continue to be an inspiration for others.

And I am sure that the unwavering support and love from their families and caregivers have played a key part in nurturing our scholars to see beyond their limitations to achieve what they have today.

With that, APB Foundation and I would like to thank Ms Low Yen Ling, Parliamentary Secretary for the Ministry of Trade and Industry and Ministry of Education, Mayor for South West District for your presence here today and SPD for working alongside us to make this Scholarship possible.

As we celebrate the awarding of the new scholars this year with scholarships to pursue higher education, let us all continue to give with love and create an inclusive society for everyone.

Thank you and I hope you will enjoy this morning’s programme.