Wendy Kopp spoke Thursday on campus. (Stuart Palley)

Thursday night, the founder and CEO of Teach For America, Wendy Kopp, visited Southern Methodist University and delivered the 10th annual Louise B. Raggio Endowed Lecture in Women’s Studies.

Collins Auditorium was half full when the lecture began at 8 p.m. The lecture opened with background information of Louise Raggio, an SMU graduate who lobbied for women’s rights in Texas. Raggio and her family were in attendance. Kopp was introduced by Paul Ludden, SMU’s provost.

Kopp explained how she grew up and what kind of lifestyle she led. Kopp is an alumna of Highland Park High School in Dallas.

“Where you are born in the country has so much to do with the education you receive,” Kopp said.

She attended college at Princeton University. During her senior year, while she formulated her thesis, she came up with the idea of Teach For America.

Teach For America is program designed for college graduates to train and assist for two years in the education process. They are stationed all over the United States and teach in urban or rural areas in order to enhance education.

She was discouraged and turned down many times with the same excuse: “College students would never want to do this sort of program.”

However, 18 years later, Kopp states, “Much has been accomplished for education.” She describes the beginning years of Teach for America as, “very much a learning process.”

Katherine Tullos, SMU’s student body president stated, “Wendy Kopp is so inspiring in that she came up with this concept at the same age as most seniors in college now.”

Many SMU alumni are involved with Teach For America. This fall, 15 SMU graduates entered the corps. Teach For America has many locations all over the country.

“Of our 26 regions that we are currently serving, two of them are run by SMU alumni. SMU corps members are literally everywhere,” Kate Meister, Teach For America recruiter, said.

One of SMU’s Teach For America alumni, Ben Bhotti along with Carl Dorvil, another SMU alumni, created an organization, Group Excellence. It was established to help underachieving middle and high schools in the Dallas area.

“I would recommend Teach For America to anyone graduating college who has a heart for students,” Botti said.