High School Dropout to Harvard: My Life with Dyslexia

High School Dropout to Harvard: My Life with Dyslexia Rodrigues graduated from U.C. Berkeley and spent one year as a visiting scholar at Harvard University.

Learn more about us here: youtube.com/watch?v=8jVVw4h5mKY

John Rodrigues is the Executive Director at ThinkLexic, a nonprofit organization that uses the Arts & Technology to empower kids with dyslexia. He is the author of "High School Dropout to Harvard" and featured in the PBS film about dyslexia, "Being You.”

John founded ThinkLexic to improve the quality of instruction for students with lear

ning disabilities and advance a strengths-based narrative of dyslexia. ThinkLexic works with schools, educators, parents, and students. He holds a Master’s degree in Education with a focus on learning disabilities. He's interested in visual thinking and the arts and technology as natural pathways for students with dyslexia. He lives in Claremont, California with his wife and daughter. Founders Story:
Growing up, John always felt like he was smart, but his grades were terrible; he failed the first grade, and started feeling like he wasn’t as good as the other kids. After years of constantly feeling beaten down by the school system, he gave up and stopped caring, eventually he dropped out of high school. Before he dropped out, he signed up for a cooking class, and his teacher recommended him for a kitchen job at a local hotel. While there, he saw an ice sculptor carving a block of ice and was completely mesmerized; the sculptor took John under his wing and started teaching him the art. His yet-undiagnosed dyslexia strengthened his three-dimensional thinking skills, so ice carving came naturally, he felt like he’d hit a “sweet spot.”

Before long, his ice sculptures were in high demand...and he was only sixteen years old; he realized he could make a living doing the thing that he loved. Now, his passion is public speaking and educating others about how to foster the strengths that come with dyslexia.

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Claremont, CA
91711

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Monday 9am - 5pm
Tuesday 9am - 5pm
Wednesday 9am - 5pm
Thursday 9am - 5pm
Friday 8am - 4pm
Saturday 8am - 4pm
Sunday 8am - 7pm

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(510) 725-8744

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Our Story

High School Dropout to Harvard is a ThinkLexic company. ThinkLexic is one of the largest community, training & advocacy organizations for people with Dyslexia and ADHD, their families, and the greater community with a global reach of over 170,000 through their website, LinkedIn, pages & email newsletter. It is run by people diagnosed with Dyslexia, and led by John Rodrigues

TL is headquartered in beautiful Claremont, CA (just a few blocks from the Claremont Colleges!) but has over 10,000+ members across 89 countries.

We're on a mission...

to change the perspective of Dyslexia from one of a "disease" or disability to one of simply a different way of being.