Oprah Winfrey will be closing her academy\u2019s boarding school in South Africa.<\/p>\n
The tuition-free Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls opened in 2007 following discussions with Nelson Mandela, former president of South Africa. Its website<\/a> describes it as a \u201cforward-thinking, cutting-edge\u201d all-girls school. Its focus areas are arts, humanities, languages, math and science.<\/a><\/p>\n In science, students<\/a> learn how to solve problems tied to chemistry, physics, and biology as well as develop skills in observation, recording data, analyzing information and drawing informed conclusions, according to<\/a> its website.<\/p>\n Students have gone on to become doctors, lawyers, engineers,<\/a> artists, executives, and entrepreneurs<\/a>, per<\/a> Oprah Daily. One of those graduates is Andronica, who completed her studies at the school in 2012 and is now a senior engineering lead at Meta.<\/p>\n \u201cEvery corner of the campus was filled with so much love and care and detail,\u201d Andronica told Oprah Daily. \u201cOWLAG convinced me that preparation, character, and purpose mattered more than where I came from.\u201d<\/p>\n The Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls has graduated<\/a> more than 1,000 girls, LiveNOW on Fox reports.<\/a> After making an impact for nearly two decades, it will close its boarding school after the 2027 academic year, and students \u201cwill go to other top-tier schools with their tuition paid for in total by Ms. Winfrey through their graduation,\u201d a representative said, according to<\/a> People.<\/p>\n South Africa\u2019s Gauteng Department of Education will take over operations, per Oprah Daily.<\/p>\n Winfrey\u2019s mission for South African youth \u201cdoesn\u2019t end with one campus. It continues in every girl whose future can be transformed through education,\u201d she said, according to People.<\/p>\n This will be carried on through a scholarship<\/a> program that will reach \u201cdouble the amount of girls,\u201d according to a representative for Winfrey.<\/p>\n