[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 16]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 21739]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




    HONORING WENDY KOPP, PRESIDENT AND FOUNDER OF TEACH FOR AMERICA

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. CHARLES B. RANGEL

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                       Friday, September 29, 2006

  Mr. RANGEL. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor one of my 
constituents, Wendy Kopp, President and Founder of Teach for America, 
who was recently awarded the prestigious 2006 Harold W. McGraw, Jr. 
Prize in Education.
  Ms. Kopp's steadfast commitment to education is evident in her deeds 
and actions for she truly embodies the ideal that a decent education is 
the key, not only to the acquisition of knowledge and skills, but also 
to building self-esteem. In short, education is the receptacle of hope 
and the door to the American dream.
  Kopp's pursuit of educational excellence and equity led her in 1989 
to propose the creation of Teach for America. She did this as her 
undergraduate senior thesis, and has spent the last 15 years working to 
sustain and further develop the organization. Teach for America is 
comprised of a national corps of recent college graduates who commit 2 
years to teach in urban and rural public schools. Its mission is to 
help to eliminate educational inequity by enlisting our country's most 
promising future leaders in this effort.
  Today, more than 3,500 corps members are teaching in our country's 
neediest communities, reaching approximately 300,000 students. They 
join more than 10,000 Teach for America alumni who are already assuming 
significant leadership roles in education and social reform even though 
they are in their 20s and 30s.
  Kopp serves on the board of directors of The New Teacher Project, and 
the advisory boards of the Center for Public Leadership at Harvard 
University's Kennedy School of Government and the National Council on 
Teacher Quality.
  Mr. Speaker, I am proud to recognize Wendy Kopp for her devotion and 
hard work in the field of education, and wish to extend my 
congratulations and best wishes to her for much continued success.

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