FORMER Ateneo captain Bea de Leon has given an aspiring Blue Eagle a life-changing opportunity.
With the help of the Loyola Schools administration, the UAAP Season 81 Finals MVP awarded the first-ever Bea de Leon Scholarship to incoming Ateneo freshman Raphaella Ayen Retuta.
Back in April 2022, little did Ayen know that one tweet was about to make a lifelong dream come true.
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Ayen’s volleyball hero, then-Ateneo star Bea de Leon, was an athletic scholar during her college days despite not wanting to avail of the scholarship at first.
Nearly five years since graduating from Ateneo, BDL sought to pay it forward by initiating a scholarship grant of her own.
As explained by Ateneo on Friday, de Leon saw Ayen’s tweet and reached out to share the news that she will be an Atenean scholar.
Ayen — an active student-leader in high school who graduated with high honors — passed the Ateneo College Entrance Test but had her scholarship application rejected due to limited slots.

On January 27, Bea and her mother Det joined Ateneo officials in awarding the scholarship grant to Ayen, who will now be taking up BS Management as a scholar of her volleyball hero turned schoolmate.
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