The Leadership Academy
Oprah's start to life was not easy. But she turned that all around when given the education and support that she needed. Many years later, she provided girls in South Africa the same opportunity.
Oprah made a promise to Nelson Mandela in 2000 to build a school in South Africa to give students a better chance at life. When meeting with Mandela in 2002, Oprah fulfilled that promise and began building a school to provide an education for girls. Winfrey stated that she built the school so she could, "feel closer to the people she helped" and to, "give young girls a chance for a better future". The school opened in 2007, and features a 28-building campus with science laboratories, a library, computer labs, a theater and a wellness center. The $40 million school provided an education to over 150 girls the first year. By 2012, the school reached it's full potential: about 380 girls in grades seven though twelve.
Oprah made a promise to Nelson Mandela in 2000 to build a school in South Africa to give students a better chance at life. When meeting with Mandela in 2002, Oprah fulfilled that promise and began building a school to provide an education for girls. Winfrey stated that she built the school so she could, "feel closer to the people she helped" and to, "give young girls a chance for a better future". The school opened in 2007, and features a 28-building campus with science laboratories, a library, computer labs, a theater and a wellness center. The $40 million school provided an education to over 150 girls the first year. By 2012, the school reached it's full potential: about 380 girls in grades seven though twelve.
"When you're changing a girl's life it's not just that life. You start to affect a family, a community, a nation." -Oprah Winfrey
"Education is the great engine of personal development. It is through education that the daughter of a peasant can become a doctor, that the child of a farm worker can become the president of a great nation. It is what we make out of what we have, not what we are given, that separates one person from another." -Nelson Mandela
OWN Network, October 2012
OWN Network, October 2012
"I was a poor girl who grew up with my grandmother, like so many of these girls, with no water and electricity... I know how important an education can be and I vow to make this academy the best in the world.” -Oprah
"It is my hope that this school will become the dream of every South African girl and they will study hard and qualify for the school one day." -Nelson Mandela