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Upper photo, page 50: Oprah Winfrey stands amid graduates and guests at the first graduation ceremony
hosted by Oprah Winfrey’s Leadership Academy for Girls in South Africa. Current students of the school
wore white shirts with green blazers while graduates wore white dresses. In the second row are Stedman
Graham, Jeff Langenbach, Gregory Cappelli and Joe D’Amico. Lower photo, page 50: Banners proclaiming
Oprah’s school’s values decorate the commencement venue. Photo page 51: Current students play music
and celebrate with the graduates. Photographs provided by Jeff Langenbach.
graduates wore white dresses. The parents
were generally wearing very colorful South
African tribal outfits. During the ceremony,
Oprah introduced the girls and they all filed
in one at a time.
The parents in the audience have a custom
where, instead of clapping, they made
yelling or clicking sounds when their
daughter’s name was announced. For the
most part, these girls would be the first in
their family to go through 12th Grade and
move on to college. There were some very
emotional parents as they all know what
this means for their future. The faculty
spoke openly about how, every week on
average, at least one girl in the school would
lose a relative to AIDS, it’s such an epidemic
right now.
FM What is the makeup of the faculty at
Oprah’s school?
JL Some of the teachers come from the
U.S. and some from the U.K. There are quite
a few South African faculty members who
previously taught in other schools. They
also have some South Africans who were
teaching in the U.S. and Oprah convinced
them to come back. The faculty role is
their full-time job and they live on the
grounds. It’s a great opportunity to teach in
a state-of-the-art facility, whereas most of
the other schools in the area are pretty lowtech.
This is the best of the best of faculty.
She’s able to get some good people.
FM Were the faculty asking about
University of Phoenix?
JL They were all very curious. Most of
Oprah’s faculty are aware of University of
Phoenix and they were anxious to hear
about ways we might expand into South
Africa, most likely through online learning.
They know online learning is the wave of
the future and they’d love to see us do it
over there.
FM How would you characterize the
teaching model at Oprah’s school?
JL It’s very robust and rigorous. The
students are living there full-time and are
involved in a very strenuous education
program. It’s why these girls can get into
great schools here in the U.S. Six of the
graduates are coming to the U.S. and
will attend colleges including Stanford
University and Wellesley College. The rest
of the graduates are moving on to colleges
in South Africa.
“ The real story of this
school has yet to be
written. It will be written
ten to twenty years
from now, when you
see these girls are the
leading politicians. They’re
going to be doctors and
scientists. It’s going to be
very interesting.”
— Jeff Langenbach
facultymatters.com
FM Do you have a sense of how these girls’
accomplishments are viewed back in their
communities?
JL In their society, there are still a lot of
tribal views that women are second-class
citizens. The girls are returning to their
villages and their mothers are very proud,
but they still aren’t getting a lot of respect
in some cases from the men in these rural
areas or townships. A lot of them expressed
interest in leaving the country because of
that, but the vast majority are staying to
pursue college.
The graduates view their mission in life
as helping other girls like themselves,
and they want to have a hand in changing
the political system. A number of these
girls said, “We’re going into government.
We’re going to be Prime Minister. We’re
going to change our culture.” The real
story of this school has yet to be written.
It will be written ten to twenty years from
now, when you see these girls are the
leading politicians. They’re going to be
doctors and scientists. It’s going to be
very interesting.
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