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OPRAH AND BILL GATES SURPRISE SAN DIEGO HIGH SCHOOL: Billionaires pay visit to film segment of talk show on school reform.
*The students at San Diego High School thought Wednesday (Feb. 15) would be just another typical day. Then Oprah Winfrey showed up out of the blue, flanked by Microsoft Corp. Chairman Bill Gates and his wife Melinda, causing shrieks of delight and a sudden flurry of cell phone calls from students to their shocked parents.
“Dad, you're not going to believe it. Oprah is here,” 16-year-old Daejha said during a call to her father, Mark Toney. “I waved at her and she waved back at me.”
The celebrity trio visited the campus to film an upcoming segment of "The Oprah Winfrey Show" about the $11 million donation given to the San Diego Unified School District in 2003 from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The money was to assist in efforts to reform three large high schools in the city.
According to Music McCall, a spokeswoman for the district, some of the money was used to divide San Diego High School into six smaller schools specializing in business, international studies, media, and science, among others.
"Instead of being at a big high school with 1,400 students, you're at a school with 400 students where people know you better," McCall said. "They learn more and get more out of school."
The goal of the program was to increase the number of college-ready San Diego high school graduates, particularly among low-income and minority students.
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