Meet TTS Scholar Vibeke Strom, Class of 2018-19

Vibeke is studying towards an MPA from Harvard Kennedy School. She is the founder and Head of Teach First Norway, the Norwegian equivalent to Teach For America. Born in Seoul, Korea in 1975, Vibeke was adopted to Norway as a baby and grew up on the coastal side of middle-Norway. She now lives in Oslo. Vibeke holds a BA (Honors) in Performing Arts/Enterprise Management from the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts (1998). From the Norwegian Business School, Vibeke has completed a Foundation Program in Business Administration (2011) and an Executive Master Module in Leadership Development in Organizations (2016). After working in the entertainment industry as a music manager, consultant and TV producer, Vibeke started working for the City of Oslo Education Agency in 2009. Through leading the Teach First Norway-program, she has addressed major challenges in the public sector relating to deprivation, immigration and education.

Can you tell us what the TTS scholarship means to you?

I did not fully understand the true meaning of being a TTS scholar before meeting my fellow TTS scholars and the rest of the TTS family during the TTS weekend in New York in October. Before the weekend, I was grateful for being a recipient of your scholarship and proud to be associated with an organization whose mission I wholeheartedly support, having grown up with stories from witnesses and survivors of WWII. However, meeting the rest of the TTS family, learning more about the background of TTS, and meeting Leo Goldberger made the scholarship come alive for me. The power of the stories and acts that TTS recognizes through its mission engaged me deeply and I believe I am now both more humble and grateful for not only being a scholar but for the courage and values of people when facing unrighteousness.

How do your studies at Harvard Kennedy School relate to your previous education in the UK and Norway?

My master program at Harvard Kennedy School is flexible in the way that I, within certain requirements, choose my courses and profile. Thus, I feel that my studies here are well aligned with my previous education and work as well as future aspirations, and that I have been able to build on my background in management, business and leadership studies. However, I do believe that Harvard challenges you to step outside your comfort zone, and I do feel that I am stretching myself beyond what I expected before coming here.

What are your post-graduate plans?

Although I sometimes wish I could stay for another year and continue my studies here in Boston, I will return to Norway in the summer after graduation. I am on leave from my work at the City of Oslo Education Authority, so I will return to my job there.

What do you think is most valuable about international education?

Apart from the academic outcome, I believe that international education generally gives you (as a student) invaluable personal growth and perspectives on life and the world. As an undergraduate student in Liverpool, I faced tough learning on all fronts, getting friends from various countries with different value sets and references, relating to a new system, and understanding the cultural and challenging socio-economic dynamics of a major city. It also gave me a new perspective on Norway – seeing both the positive and not-so-positive sides of my home country. I believe this experience is shared by many international students.

Can you tell us more about the Teach First Norway program?

Of course! Teach First Norway is a 2-year development program for leadership talents with master-or PhD-degrees in the STEM-field. In the program they work as science and math teachers in a challenging school in Oslo at the same time as they follow a demanding development program, which consists of formal teacher education and leadership training. Teach First Norway was established in 2009 as collaboration between the City of Oslo Education Agency, Equinor (formerly known as Statoil, Norway’s oil company), the University of Oslo and the Teach First-organization in England. The mission is to address major challenges in education and the STEM-field by developing exceptional graduates into effective and inspirational teachers and leaders. This year, cohort number 10 is being recruited and I am proud to say that our teachers in the program are having a positive impact on the learning of their students.

What are you most passionate about?

My son, Fredrik (2), is definitely my number 1 priority in life. On a personal level, I also have two dogs, Frida and Ludvig (brown standard poodles, mother and son) back home in Norway that I am very passionate about. In my professional career so far, people development has been the common factor, and I would say I am quite passionate about having a positive impact on people, and now, through my work in education, especially young people’s outlook and possibilities in life. That is one of my main reasons why I decided to study at Harvard.

Interview conducted February 2019.