Trying to retrieve files after water damage

Last week after having my Macbook air for 1.5 years I accidentally knocked a full drink over and all the liquid went into the keyboard. I took it to an Apple store and they said it would cost more to fix than buy a new one. It is completely toast and shows absolutely no signs of life. Unfortunately, I didn't have icloud set up properly and have no back-up. I am a volunteer in the Philippines and lost all of the work I've done over the last 1.5 years.

My question: Is it at all possible to retrieve files from it? The Apple store told me no.