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Alumni Award

Willy Oppenheim

2026 Alumni Award Recipient:
Honored for his leadership in global social enterprise
Willy Oppenheim '01

The New Canaan Country School Alumni Award is presented to honor an alumna or alumnus who has had the courage and confidence to make a positive contribution to the world. This year, the distinction goes to Willy Oppenheim ’01, an educator, researcher and social entrepreneur whose work has connected individuals and communities around the globe through dialogue, learning and purposeful engagement. 

As the founder and executive leader of Omprakash, Willy Oppenheim has created pathways for people to think critically about service, culture and global responsibility — empowering others to contribute thoughtfully and meaningfully to the world around them.

Oppenheim is the founder and executive leader of Omprakash, a global social enterprise that facilitates relationships, critical reflection and collaboration among change agents worldwide. What began as an effort to connect volunteers with grassroots organizations has evolved into a broader platform that includes a crowdfunding network and Omprakash EdGE, an online learning community that challenges participants to engage thoughtfully with questions of culture, power and global responsibility.

Following Country School, Oppenheim attended The Taft School and Bowdoin College, where he pursued a self-designed major in religion, education and anthropology. He later earned a Rhodes Scholarship and completed his doctorate in Education at the University of Oxford, where his research focused on access to schooling for girls in rural Pakistan. His broader scholarship explores how ideas of justice and development are shaped through both formal and informal education.

Oppenheim’s work has taken him to classrooms and communities across the United States and around the world, including India, Pakistan and China. In addition to leading Omprakash, he has taught intermittently at the University of Washington and served as faculty with the National Outdoor Leadership School — consistently bringing his passion for education, inquiry and global engagement to diverse learning environments.

Originally from New Canaan, Willy is the son of Bill and Ellen Oppenheim and the brother of Jocie Oppenheim Dickson ’00, Jaymie Oppenheim ’03, Annie Oppenheim ’08 and Rosey Oppenheim ’11. 

As he celebrates his 25th Reunion with the Country School Class of 2001, this award honors Willy for his thoughtful leadership, global perspective and commitment to fostering meaningful connections across cultures — qualities that reflect the very best of a Country School education.

Alumni Award Recipients

List of 30 items.

  • 2026: Willy Oppenheim '01

  • 2025: Jonathan Isham '75

  • 2024: Lucy Adams Billings '63

  • 2023: Nicholas Britell '96

  • 2022: Lisa Pike Sheehy ’83

  • 2021: AJ Mleczko ’90

  • 2020: Eric Woolworth ’80

  • 2019: Allison Kessler Vear ’00

  • 2018: Topsy Post ’66

  • 2017: Mo Vaughn ’82

  • 2016: G. David Forney ’54

  • 2015: Zach Iscol ’94

  • 2014: Katherine Ward ’79

  • 2013: Liz Barratt-Brown ’74

  • 2012: Matt Heineman ’98

  • 2011: Rick Ackerly ’60

  • 2010: Edward Hoagland ’47

  • 2009: Patricia Gates Lynch Ewell ’41

  • 2008: Hardy Jones ’58

  • 2007: Elizabeth Spelke ’64

  • 2006: L. Paul Bremer ’56

  • 2005: Edmund L. Resor ’66

  • 2004: William A. Shutkin ’80

  • 2003: Emily Mead ’41

  • 2002: Keith H. Brodie ’54

  • 2001: Samuel Sachs ’50

  • 2000: Elizabeth S. Crow ’61

  • 1999: Hedrick Smith ’47

  • 1998: Jonathan B. O’Brien ’53 & Joan Dominick O’Brien ’53

  • 1997: Peter Goldmark ’55

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635 Frogtown Road, New Canaan, CT 06840
Phone: (203) 972-0771

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New Canaan Country School admits students of any race, color, national and ethnic origin and are afforded all the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the school and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, age, sex, sexual orientation, national origin or ancestry, or disability in administration of its educational policies, admissions policies, financial aid policies or any other school-administered programs.