Wendy kopp biography

As an undergraduate, Kopp was so involved with other activities, such as the Foundation for Student Communication, that she neglected to choose a topic for her senior thesis until almost the last moment. At the foundation, she had organized a conference on improving the American system of public education, particularly in poorly served rural and urban areas.

She knew many students who were interested in teaching in these areas, but while recruiters for financial service firms made a thorough effort to recruit outstanding college graduates, there was no comparable effort to recruit gifted students for teaching and public service. Her thesis adviser, sociology professor Marvin Bressler, was impressed with the proposal but saw it as more of an intellectual exercise than a practical proposal, since he doubted she could ever raise the funds necessary to implement such a scheme in the real world.

At the same time, Kopp knew she needed to find a job to support herself after graduation. She made a brief effort to find work on Wall Street, in investment banks and consulting firms, but she knew her heart was not in it. Shortly before graduation, Union Carbide offered her free office space in New York City, and Mobil Oil gave her a seed grant to live on while she pursued further support for her teacher corps.

Wendy kopp biography: Wendy Kopp is CEO and Co-founder

After receiving her degree inKopp moved to New York City, and spent the summer lining up donors, visiting school systems, recruiting a board of directors and hiring a small staff of four. A grant from the philanthropy Echoing Green enabled Kopp and her staff to set up a headquarters in a larger office space donated by investment bank Morgan Stanley.

After many attempts, their work came to the attention of philanthropist H. Ross Perot, who offered a three-to-one challenge grant. Kopp was sure they were wrong. With her growing staff, which now included her future husband, Richard Barth, she built a network of representatives on campuses across the country. The promising response to their recruitment efforts attracted media attention, which in turn drew more volunteers.

Within four months, the invitation had received 2, volunteer applications from over colleges. Kopp and her staff selected to serve as the charter corps members.

Wendy kopp biography: Wendy Sue Kopp (born

After a summer of intensive training, they fanned out across the country. The success of Teach For America in its first year attracted national attention, and donations poured in. In the next years, the number of areas served by the organization expanded rapidly, and summer teaching institutes were established in Los Angeles, Houston, New York City, and later Philadelphia, to train the ever-growing corps of teachers.

InTeach For America received a record number of 17, applications, and was the number one employer of new graduates on some college campuses. InKopp founded Teach For All, a global network of independent social enterprises that applies the principles of Teach For America around the world. They join more than 28, Teach For America alumni — many still in their 20s and 30s — who are assuming significant leadership roles in education and social reform.

In her books, she not only describes how she created and built Teach For America and Teach For All, but also shares her thoughts about what it will take to realize her vision that one day all children will have the opportunity to attain an excellent education. Her accomplishment has been recognized with numerous awards and honors, including honorary doctorates from Princeton, Smith College, Georgetown, Boston University and Harvard.

Her work with Teach For America and Teach For All, as well as frequent speaking engagements, routinely take her from coast to coast and around the world. Wendy Kopp believed that many of her peers were eager to serve society in a meaningful way if the opportunity presented itself. She drafted this plan for a national volunteer teacher corps as her senior thesis.

After graduation, Kopp set about making her plan a reality, founding Teach For America in With no teaching or business experience of her own, she created a multimillion-dollar wendy kopp biography. From coast to coast, Teach For America alumni are assuming leadership roles in education and social reform. In her books One Day, All Children and A Chance to Make HistoryWendy Kopp not only describes how she created and built Teach For America and Teach For All, but also shares her thoughts about what it will take to realize her vision that one day all children will have the opportunity to attain an excellent education.

You started Teach For America right out of college. You had the courage to ask the CEOs of these big companies to support your idea when you were in your early 20s. Where did you get that confidence? Wendy Kopp: I think I did have a level of confidence. I think it came from a few places. One, I just had deep conviction in the idea that I was pursuing.

But also, my summer job — and really what turned into a year-round job when I was at Princeton — was working at a non-profit organization, and it was student-run. We had to support the organization through corporate donations, and I think I learned that there was philanthropic money to be had, and that if you asked for it, and you made your way high enough generally in the corporate chain, you could actually get significant funding.

Even for things as mundane as conferences and magazines, let alone a big idea like this. So I think it was having seen some of that that helped me also know what was possible. Your parents owned their own business, we understand. Do you think their entrepreneurial spirit influenced you? What was their business? Wendy Kopp: No doubt.

They bought a very small one-page newsletter that people going to conventions in Austin, Texas would pick up, and it would show them where to go out to eat. They turned it into a guidebook that they would distribute at conventions and cities in Texas. That got two kids through college. Were there other people in your life, or experiences that you think formed your character, or led you to pursue such a lofty goal at an early age?

Wendy Kopp: First of all, I was so driven, I was over-involved. I think it was my engagement in various extracurricular activities that had a huge formative effect. I was part of the debate team, and editor of the school paper, and when I got to college I became so involved in various journalistic endeavors, and ultimately running this organization when I was a senior in college that had a budget of more than a million-and-a-half dollars.

I think the colleagues I met along the way were certainly instrumental. There was actually a moment — that probably took ten wendy kopp biographies of my life — but I think it may have had a very seminal effect. I was actually pursuing this summer job. It was the summer after my freshman year. I was stationed in the Midwest and I was supposed to go to these various corporate executives and ask them to buy advertisements in this magazine as part of this student-run publication.

So we were meeting with a man who ran a big investment bank in St. Louis who were growing up in poverty, experiencing violence every day. Article Talk. Read Edit View history. Tools Tools. Download as PDF Printable version. In other projects. Wikimedia Commons Wikidata item. American nonprofit executive. Austin, TexasU. Background [ edit ].

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Wendy kopp biography: Wendy Sue Kopp was born

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