ELON COLLEGE, N.C. – John Rogers does what he can to champion the rights of children.
The headmaster of Woodlyne School is a professional advocate for children’s rights and does pro bono work the Center for Child’s Advocacy in Philadelphia. He also is the guardian of a young girl who attends Woodlyne.
“I do it because sometimes children have no one who will be an advocate for them,” Rogers says.
Rogers of Wayne, Pa., was among five people honored at Elon College for making positive differences in their communities. Kelly Gallagher of Ambler, Pa., who is a graduate of Woodlyne and currently a freshman at Elon College, nominated Rogers.
“He makes every child he works with feel like somebody,” Gallagher said.
Rogers, who has a learning disability and is a member of the International Dyslexia Society, dropped out after one semester at Temple University. He later went to night school at St. Joseph’s University. After teaching at William Penn Charter School in Philadelphia, he earned a law degree. He worked as a litigation attorney before becoming Woodlyne’s headmaster.
“He knows that learning can be hard and he wants to be a part of the process to make it easier,” Gallagher said. “Education was never a strong thing for John Rogers. He struggled with it for a good part of his life.”
At Woodlyne, Rogers also emphasizes the importance of community service, Gallagher said. Last year, the school’s students participated in the “Day Off, Not a Day Off” program that encourages schoolchildren to do a community service project.
Elon is a private coeducational four-year college located near Greensboro, N.C. It has a student body of 3,900 who come from 42 states and 35 foreign countries.
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