[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 2 (Friday, January 5, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E19]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       COMMENDING JOAN COUNTRYMAN

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. JAMES R. LANGEVIN

                            of rhode island

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, January 4, 2007

  Mr. LANGEVIN. Madam Speaker, I rise today to commend Joan Countryman, 
who recently became the head of the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy 
for Girls in South Africa. In 2005, Ms. Countryman stepped down as head 
of the prestigious Lincoln School for girls in Providence, Rhode 
Island.
  Ms. Countryman, a Quaker, began her career first as a math teacher 
and then as an administrator at the Germantown Friends School in 
Philadelphia, which she attended as a student. She received a 
bachelor's degree from Sarah Lawrence College in 1962, and after taking 
part in the civil rights movement, she received a master's degree in 
urban studies from Yale. In 1966, Ms. Countryman received a Fulbright 
fellowship to the London School of Economics. She is also a former 
Columbia University Klingenstein Fellow and a Woodrow Wilson Fellow. 
Ms. Countryman is also the author of works such as her 1992 book, 
Writing to Learn Mathematics, in which she explained how she approached 
the teaching of math by using such tools as journals, learning logs, 
and formal papers.
  Before asking Ms. Countryman to head her new academy, Oprah Winfrey 
first asked her to lend her experience and expertise as a consultant. 
Oprah Winfrey founded the Leadership Academy with the goal of targeting 
South African girls from poor families and giving them an educational 
opportunity that they would otherwise not have received. Beginning with 
152 girls in the seventh and eighth grades, the academy has a goal of 
expanding through grade 12.
  I know that Joan Countryman will institute a welcoming and 
challenging school environment at the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy. 
Rhode Island was honored to have Ms. Countryman as an educator for 
twelve years, and the girls in South Africa will be lucky to have her 
there now.
  Madam Speaker, I ask all my colleagues to join with me in wishing 
Joan Countryman well in her new endeavor, as well as success to the 
Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy.

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