Oprah visits first graduating class of $40m school she founded

London: Oprah Winfrey took a trip to South Africa this week to meet the first graduating class of the school for girls she had opened in 2007.

She was seen laughing, joking and dancing with the young women, who have affectionately dubbed their founder Mam Oprah, at the 40-million-dollar Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls. Oprah has made no apologies for spending her millions on building the elite school, where she apparently teaches a class via satellite. The TV star is determined to continue to change the course of history for females across South Africa. She spoke on the eve of the graduation ceremony for 72 girls about the ways in which she hopes to help more struggling young women. “We’re taking a victory lap here, for transformation,” the Daily Mail quoted her as saying. “Every single girl is going to leave here with something greater to offer the world than her body,” she said. When she founded the school, Oprah’s aim was to ‘just change one girl, affect one person’s life.’ However she is continuously adapting the practices used at the academy in order to improve results. Despite various difficulties faced, Oprah’s work for the school has been praised, particularly her efforts to encourage the students in humanitarian ways. The charitable girls have lectured in their communities about AIDS and run breast cancer awareness campaigns in a bid to give back to those in need. ANI