Oprah Winfrey’s School for Girls

Five years ago, Oprah Winfrey opened a school in South Africa for underprivileged girls. On January 14, 2011, the first class of girls graduated from the school and Oprah was there to watch them and offer the graduation speech.

During her graduation speech, Oprah told the girls that they were now “free to soar.” She also offered praise and recognition for the teachers, family members, social workers, and everyone else who has helped make this dream a reality for the girls. For many young people in South Africa, poverty and personal traumas make it impossible for them to become educated. Some of these personal traumas include violence, the death of one or even both parents, molestation, and grief, according to Oprah.

Originally, 75 girls were part of this class of graduating girls. Of those 75, all but three walked across the stage and are now planning to attend universities in the USA and South Africa.

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Oprah Winfrey is one of the most influential women of the world as well as one of the richest African-Americans of the 20^th century.

Born on January 29, 1954 in Kosciusko, Mississippi to unmarried parents, she spent her early life on a remote farm with her grandmother. She later moved in with her Mom in a poor neighborhood of Milwaukee.  After some time of bad influence and bad behavior she moved to Nashville, Tennessee to live with her father.

Oprah’s father was very influential in her educational drive. She spent her teen years under his strict guidance, doing weekly book reports and adding five new words to her vocabulary every night before dinner.

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Women have come a long way since 1920 when they were first given the right to vote in American elections. Now, 90 years later, women across the country are heavily influencing the world’s politics, economy and social development.

In an effort to keep you motivated to study hard and pursue your dreams, here is a list of Forbes World’s Most Powerful Women.

Some of them might surprise you and also take note how many Americans are on the list!

1.    Michelle Obama, First Lady of the United States
2.    Irene Rosenfeld, Chief Executive of Kraft Foods
3.    Oprah Winfrey, Talk show host and media mogul
4.    Angela Merkel, Chancellor of Germany
5.    Hillary Clinton, Secretary of State of the United States
6.    Indra Nooyi, Chief Executive of PepsiCo Read the rest of this entry »

Anyone that has ever heard of Oprah Winfrey typically knows two things about her: she’s insanely rich and she gives stuff away.

She’s been coined by some as the queen of daytime television. People have gone to great measures to get tickets to her daytime talk show in Chicago. Once per year she has a show where she lists her favorite things and everyone in the audience gets one of everything on that list, and of course, tickets to that particular show are the most coveted of all.

Winfrey’s generosity has once again kicked in and she has donated $6 million dollars to six schools. The money was donated to organizations that are focused on helping troubled schools throughout the country. The funds will be distributed to six different charter schools in Philadelphia, California, Colorado, Illinois, Louisiana and Texas. These monies were donated through Winfrey’s charitable organization Angel Network. The organization stated that the schools receiving the donation are groundbreaking leaders in the provision of quality public education. Read the rest of this entry »

Khadijah Williams

What kind of person usually comes to mind when you think of a Harvard student?

Probably someone who has studied and worked hard all of his or her life, and probably has at least some money and a place to call home. You probably wouldn’t think of someone who is homeless and attended 12 schools in 12 years, right?

I’d like to introduce you to Khadijah.

Khadijah grew up in homeless shelters. She did attend 12 schools in 12 years. And she did just graduate high school, and was accepted to Harvard University.

This is one of Khadijah’s scholarship application essays. Prepare to be inspired.

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