There are 140 schools in the United States that, according to The Dyslexia Reading Well, “explicitly include dyslexia among the learning disabilities the school accommodates in their curriculum and teaching methods.” None of those schools is in Nevada and Rudy Ruettiger plans to change that. If the name isn’t familiar to you, Ruettiger is a motivational speaker whose life, including his years as a Notre Dame football player, was the inspiration for the 1993 hit movie Rudy. He is dyslexic and frequently addresses the difficulties he’s faced because of it during his speaking engagements, including not having a diagnosis or instructional intervention until he was a college student. Because of his popularity and positive influence, I’m sure Ruettiger could have chosen any of the 140 schools to visit as the basis for how he will model the school he intends to open in Las Vegas. He chose Memphis’ Bodine School.

I asked Ruettiger what it was, specifically, that drew him to Bodine School. He said that Josh (Clark, Head of School) and his staff were doing such a phenomenal job with the resources they have and their success rates with the students were astounding. He wanted to experience for himself the culture of the school and take back to Las Vega as much as he could to aid in the blueprint for his school. He had been to Memphis once before, visiting University of Memphis, and feels the same way about the city today as he did then. “It’s fresh. You can feel the energy. Positive energy.” I agree, and believe that the energy he feels from the city of Memphis is found in a concentrated form at Bodine School- because I felt it the moment I walked through the school’s doors.

The enthusiasm was written all over the staff and faculty’s faces. I meet Jordan Scarleski, Director of Development, who came to Bodine from the Ronald McDonald House. Her excitement in sharing the differences made in student’s lives at the school was matched by her energy as she darted about, ensuring that everything was in its place for that evening’s fundraiser. When it was time for Ruettiger to speak to the students I found a place in the back of the room and watched as the students vied for a turn to have their questions answered by this person about whom they’d learned so much. Some of the questions made us all laugh, like the one by a student who wondered if he’d really had his nose broken, “the way you did in the movie.” Others were more serious, such as that by a young boy who asked whether Ruettiger had been teased for having dyslexia. What I found most fascinating was that this group of students wasn’t being treated as “those” students- a title that, unfortunately, is sometimes used in traditional school settings. They were not reminded that they were “different” or made to feel that something was wrong with learning differently. Rather, the students were celebrated and their accomplishments commended by Reuttiger who told them how lucky they were to attend a school like Bodine- one he wished he had been able to attend as a young student.