When Tiger Woods shifted his TGR Foundation’s focus from golf to education in 2001, Dr. Katherine Bihr joined the team to build educational programs and opportunities through its flagship TGR Learning Lab Anaheim. As a career educator and principal with a passion for empowering youth, she built a team, established signature programs and helped set the foundation for the impact to come. As we celebrate 30 years of driving dreams together, presented by EY, she took time to reflect on the journey and her hope for the future of TGR Foundation.
Education is important for everyone, but young people from under-resourced communities often lack opportunity for no other reason than just not having exposure. The TGR Learning Lab provides them an opportunity to take their education to another level.
One of the greatest things I’ve ever done as an educator was work on this project and create spaces that help kids understand their education in the context of where they want to go and who they want to be.
Early on, we had conversations with the local superintendent, who very simply stated, “Kids vote with their feet, so you can’t design a program without getting their input.”Before creating our programs, we spent a lot of time talking to students, giving them options, showing them different careers and trying to get a sense of what they might be most interested in. Because of that, when the doors opened, they felt invested in being here and that what mattered to them mattered to us. Twenty years later, students still want to be here.
My first meeting with Tiger and his dad was surreal. He envisioned a safe place where kids could come and have opportunities and options like he had when he was a young person, and education was a huge priority for the Woods family.
He understands the balance of being able to provide good education and academic outcomes, while at the same time letting kids explore and find out who they are.
A lot of people think that this facility is about creating the next Tiger Woods, and he would be the first person to tell you we don’t need to create another Tiger. We need to help people find their voice, understand who they are and propel them.
When you provide support to a young person, you change the dynamic of their whole family. Whether it’s through the Learning Lab or the Earl Woods Scholar Program, students are all making their mark. They understand that it’s their obligation to give back and to be part of a bigger movement and a bigger community.
The legacy of TGR Foundation and the TGR Learning Labs will always be the importance of young people and providing opportunities to make a difference in their lives.
We also saw the opportunity early on to create programs for teachers to understand and deliver new learning models in their own schools and classrooms that they don’t have the time or support to gain. As we grew and began producing good outcomes for kids, there was an obligation to share what we learned, whether it be in the classroom or an after-school program, here in Anaheim or across the country.
TGR Foundation has literally provided the foundation for creativity and innovation in education that I think will continue to allow it to lean into the future and help young people make those connections to careers and become really awesome people.
What I’m most proud of is that the Learning Lab and the Foundation have really doubled down and committed to doing great things for education, not just this building, but also in the other facilities that they’re building around the country. I am exceptionally proud to have been a small part of helping set that up.
Sharing and caring were really important in all the things that we have done, and the investment we made 20 years ago continues to grow. We are all in this together, and it’s important for us to think about how we can impact our communities.
TGR Foundation has been driving dreams together in under-resourced communities since 1996. As we celebrate our 30-year anniversary, presented by EY, this reflection highlights the impact of our programs from organizational leaders throughout our history.
Learn more at TGRFoundation.org.
