Posted by | Ray Cornelius
Remember the young South African girls that Oprah Winfrey selected for her leadership academy a few years ago? Well, those young ladies have graduated and Winfrey will highlight them and their stories in a two-hour special coming up on October 14.
According to The Grio, OWN viewers will take a look into the challenges and victories the 72 girls, who were only twelve and thirteen when they left home to enroll in the school, faced during their time at the academy. They will also see the girls prepare for graduation, apply for college and make their first visit to the United States to tour universities.
“I have an especially close connection to this first graduating class,” Oprah said in a recent statement. “I hand-picked each of them. I can see who they are, where they came from and the potential of who they can be.”
The school opened in 2007, fulfilling a dream Winfrey had to provide quality education to the poor in South Africa. Enrollment at the academy is currently at 400 students.
“I’m such a proud mother,” Oprah told ABC’s Diane Sawyer before the graduation in January. “They have taken this moment, this opportunity, and seized it in a way that I could only dream of.”
The First Graduating Class: Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls, will premiere on Sunday, October 14 at 9 p.m. ET/PT on OWN.
