It’s no exaggeration to say the Bangkok Post Foundation is a part of 26-year-old Khatawut Wisreethippakorn’s life, as the foundation has supported his education for 13 years, from Prathom 5 until he completed his bachelor’s degree.
– Kamphaengphet Province
– B.Sc in Architecture, Faculty of Art and Architecture, Rajamangala University of Technology Lanna
– Interior Designer
“I’ve always liked drawing but I knew it would be hard to make a living doing that so I chose to do the science-maths programme in high school and always wanted to study architecture at university,” says Khatawut who’s now an interior architect.
However, it might not have been easy to pursue such a dream were it not for a fortuitous meeting with someone from the Bangkok Post Foundation.
When Khatawut was 11 a member of the foundation unexpectedly met him at Lan Sang National Park in Tak province where his parents worked. After talking with Khatawut’s family, the foundation decided to support the lad’s education from then on.
At the time Khatawut did not understand how much the scholarship would mean to him, but since he saw his parents were delighted at receiving this opportunity, Khatawut knew that he should try his best to study. The benefits from his resolve to study hard resulted in receiving a scholarship until his last year at university.
“Before I entered university, my family struggled financially but they wanted me to study whatever I wanted. Luckily enough I was awarded a scholarship and got accepted to study a subject I wanted to pursue.”
Without the scholarship, Khatawut admits that his chances of a place at university were low. “Money and a future are the two things the foundation has given me,” he says.
“Receiving the scholarship has helped me a lot. The expenses for my studies are pretty high. Every single tool and equipment for my architecture course is quite expensive. A tube of watercolour paint costs about a hundred baht.
“I would like to express my gratitude to everyone who has helped by donating money to the foundation. You guys gave me a new life. Without the scholarship. I have no idea what would I be doing right now.”
Apart from financial supporting, the foundation required Khatawut to record the income and expense as well as regularly share story to the foundation.
“Whenever I have some problems, people from the foundation always suggested what to do. Those suggestions were good motivation. I felt like I want to put more effort on whatever I was doing and I didn’t just want to give up easily.”
“Money and a future are the two things the foundation has given me. Without the scholarship, I have no idea what would I be doing right now”
Khatawut is still planning to make some progresses in this career path. At the same time, he never forgets to repay society.
Khatawut says what he can do now is to encourage people, especially kids in his hometown to give importance to education as much as possible as he believes that one day education will benefit oneself, and possibly society.