Over 2,100 higher education professionals gathered on Sunday for AACRAO’s 100th Annual Meeting at the Colorado Convention Center in Denver. Henry Winkler – Golden Globe Award-winning actor, producer, director, writer, and humanitarian – opened this year’s conference with a dynamic and inspiring presentation highlighting the importance of encouraging the potential in all students.
“He was so entertaining, humorous and down-to-earth,” said Bob Kubat, University Registrar at Penn State University. “I was lucky to meet him after the presentation, too, and he was very gracious and personable.”
Rejecting labels
Growing up, Winkler struggled in traditional educational settings and received little by way of encouragement from family, friends, and teachers. Refusing to accept the labels of others, he recognized his own potential and persevered to achieve enormous success. He simply realized that he had a dream and the will to make it a reality.
At the age of 31, as his son was tested for similar learning challenges, Winkler learned that he was dyslexic. Only then was he finally empowered to define his own way of thinking and learning. Winkler took his experience to the literary world, creating a series of children’s novels entitled Hank Zipzer: The World’s Greatest Under-Achiever.
Making a difference in the world
Now, Winkler has made it his mission to reach out to younger generations to let them know that they are not defined by school. He encourages every child to realize their own power, to figure out their greatness, and to share that greatness with the world. In his life and in his outreach, Winkler champions the idea that we all have to make the most of ourselves. In doing so, we are able to also help others and take action for the most vulnerable. He urged attendees not to let students fall through the cracks because they are not all made the same way.
“Winkler reminded us all how important the positive messages of encouragement are that we give to our students and to ourselves and conversely how useless the negative messages are,” said Gabriel Olszewski, University Registrar at Yale University.
“As individuals in higher education, we shouldn’t overlook individuals with learning disabilities,” Kubat added. “Given a chance, many of them can be extremely successful in following their passion.”