A Letter from Our Founder

Dear Friends,
 

We are living in a moment of profound acceleration. Technology is reshaping how we learn, work, relate, and understand ourselves faster than our social systems were ever designed to hold. Young people are growing up in a world that asks them to be adaptable, informed, emotionally intelligent, and resilient, often without offering them the space or guidance to practice those skills in real community.

At the same time, adults are navigating unprecedented complexity. Many of us feel the tension between wanting to protect young people from what feels broken and knowing they will inherit this world and be asked to lead within it. The question is no longer whether change is coming. It is how we prepare ourselves and our children to meet it with clarity, care, and courage. Opportunity Education Global exists in response to this moment.
 

At OEG, we believe adaptation and transformation must happen together. Young people need practical tools to navigate the world as it is, and they also need the imagination and agency to help shape what comes next. We believe learning should not be separated from doing, reflection from action, or youth voice from decision-making. These are not abstract ideals for us. They are daily practices.

Our work is grounded in a few core values. We center youth as capable contributors, not future potential. We honor intergenerational partnership, where wisdom flows in more than one direction. We prioritize belonging over performance, curiosity over certainty, and relationship over efficiency. We believe that imagination is a form of capital, and that communities grow stronger when people are trusted to bring their whole selves.

OEG is not trying to offer answers to every challenge of our time. Instead, we aim to create spaces where young people and adults can slow down enough to ask better questions together. Spaces where it feels possible to experiment, to listen deeply, and to take responsibility for both our impact and our care for one another.

My hope is that those who engage with OEG experience a shift, not just in what they think, but in how they relate. To themselves. To one another. And to the broader world they are part of shaping.

Thank you for being curious about this work. Thank you for believing that how we show up together still matters.
 

With warmth,
Annie Makela & Julia Klahr
Co-Founders, Opportunity Education Global