Sixth-grader Darius Grant, 12, sits beside a mock $1 million check during a viewing party for Oprah Winfrey’s show Monday afternoon at the YES Southwest campus, 4411 Anderson, in Houston.
During show airing Monday afternoon focusing on the urban education crisis, Oprah Winfrey gave $1 million to Houston’s YES Prep Public Schools.
Oprah showed a video of YES Prep and invited CEO Chris Barbic and teacher Melanie Singleton on stage, surprising them with a $1 million check from Oprah’s Angel Network.
“The $1 million gift from Oprah is not only a great recognition of the work we are doing to close the achievement gap between low-income and high-income students, but it also helps us open more schools, serve more kids on our waitlist, and take another step closer to the day when every kid in Houston has access to a first-class college-preparatory education,” Barbic said in a statement.
YES Prep plans to use the $1 million gift from Oprah’s Angel Network to continue its rapid growth to 10,000 students in Houston. YES Prep plans to open new schools and grow by more than 1,000 students next year, officials said.
“Oprah’s producers first discovered YES Prep when Secretary of Education Arne Duncan was the keynote speaker at our annual Senior Signing Day ceremony that honors our graduating seniors,” the school’s website reports.
The show’s other highlights included a discussion on Waiting for Superman, a documentary that follows urban children in search of education. Other guests included the documentary’s director, Davis Guggenheim; Washington, D.C., Chancellor Michelle Rhee; Bill Gates; and musician John Legend.
