{"id":43026,"date":"2021-04-30T12:31:11","date_gmt":"2021-04-30T04:31:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/?p=43026"},"modified":"2021-04-30T12:31:15","modified_gmt":"2021-04-30T04:31:15","slug":"laguna-student-reaps-p100000-grand-prize-in-smarts-balik-tuition-promo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/2021\/04\/30\/laguna-student-reaps-p100000-grand-prize-in-smarts-balik-tuition-promo\/","title":{"rendered":"Laguna student\u00a0reaps P100,000 grand prize in\u00a0Smart\u2019s \u2018Balik Tuition\u2019 promo"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>For 21-year-old architectural drafting student Janella Viktoria Briones, it was just another day loading her prepaid SIM, so she could carry on using her smartphone as hotspot for her desktop computer, where she did most of her projects \u2013 online.\u00a0 That kind of workaround had been her way of struggling through college since the pandemic began, her family was forced to take out a loan to get her a smartphone, and later on, her relatives lent her a workstation salvaged from reassembled computer parts.\u00a0 Little did Janela know, the Smart prepaid SIM top-ups that sustained her through, would yield her a jackpot of a Php100,000.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Janela qualified for Smart\u2019s \u2018Balik Tuition\u2019 promo as she was loading her prepaid SIM with Smart Giga Study offers. The promo served like a loyalty program for customers, and the corresponding Giga products used equated to the number of entries in the promo. \u201cWhen I joined the promo, I thought it was a scholarship,\u201d Janela recalled.&nbsp; \u201cSo, I told myself, maybe I can find someone who can donate a laptop that can help me handle the workload of my course.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Janela is taking up Architectural Drafting Technology at the Laguna Polytechnic University \u2013 Sta. Cruz campus. When schools were forced to migrate to online platforms because of the coronavirus pandemic, she struggled to adjust to what has become the new normal for learning. \u201cMy father runs a small welding shop in our house,\u201d she shared. \u201cWhat he earns is barely enough to cover household expenses. My mother sells \u2018isaw\u2019 to chip in.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">She also leaned on Smart\u2019s Giga Study 99 to continue her education, \u201cIt\u2019s perfect for online learning. You get 2 GB of open access data for 7 days. More importantly, there\u2019s 1 GB of data allocated for online learning tools such as Google, Google Search, Google Plus, Google Hangouts, and Microsoft 365.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Smart launched in October 2020 the \u2018Balik Tuition Promo\u2019, an electronic raffle where students using Smart and TNT prepaid SIMs can win cash, gadgets, and data loads to help them get on with the new normal of e-learning. &nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cSmart believes that the internet is a great equalizer. It gives students the opportunity to access a multitude of information and application to help them fulfill their dreams. That\u2019s why we\u2019re always rolling out innovative products, like our GIGA Data offerings, to empower our nation\u2019s future to live smarter for a better world,\u201d said Jane Basas, SVP and Head of Consumer Wireless Business Group at Smart.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">While the smartphone and the prepaid Giga pack helped provide Janela\u2019s access to online classes, the third-year college student also badly needed a computer that could handle the heavy processes needed to complete her plates. Now in her junior year, most of her projects require the use of computer-aided design and drafting software applications that demand a lot from a computer.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So, she turned to relatives and friends for help, \u201cMy family couldn\u2019t afford a desktop PC, so I borrowed computer parts to set up my own workstation.\u201d Her aunt lent a CPU (central processing unit), a keyboard and a mouse, while she borrowed a monitor to complete the system. When she needed to, she would walk to her aunt\u2019s house to use the PC that was assembled from salvaged parts. And this humble desktop computer has allowed Janela to continue with her studies.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThis pandemic has taught me to be resourceful. You need to do something, even if it means reaching out and asking for help because if you won\u2019t, nothing will happen,\u201d she said.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">With the P100,000 she has won, Janela is finally getting that dream laptop that will enable her to complete her projects. But she also wants to help her family. So, she\u2019s setting aside part of the grand prize to expand her mother\u2019s \u2018isaw\u2019 business and to pay their electricity bills.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cMy family has always been my motivation to push forward despite the challenges. They have sacrificed a lot for me. It\u2019s the least I can do for them,\u201d she said.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Janela is also looking beyond the horizon. Buoyed by the opportunity that her win has granted her, she plans to proceed to a formal architecture program. She\u2019s determined to work her way through college to earn her license as an architect.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThis isn\u2019t the time to give up. Even with just a little hope, I\u2019m holding on to it because I want to give my family a better life.\u201d she said.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Aside from Janela, three other students from the National Capital Region, Visayas, and Mindanao have also won P100,000 each, for joining the two-month-long promo that lasted until December 31, 2020.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Smart launched in October 2020 the \u2018Balik Tuition Promo\u2019, an electronic raffle where students using Smart and TNT prepaid SIMs can win cash, gadgets, and data loads to help them get on with the new normal of e-learning.   <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":43027,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[343],"class_list":["post-43026","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-headlines","tag-smart-communications"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43026","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43026"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43026\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43027"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43026"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43026"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.upgrademag.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43026"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}