An opening celebration for the university’s new elementary school for children with dyslexia featured a special student performance on Oct. 2, 2026, by a community of young learners being transformed through one family’s historic investment in Elon.
Sixteen children stood before a crowd on a recent October afternoon and delivered a cheer that expressed how much they love their school:
Here we learn, here we grow.
Every day there’s more to know.
We are thinkers, we are strong,
And at Roberts we belong.
Dream big, shine bright, as a Phoenix we take flight.
Side by side, here we say, we can learn in our own way.
This is our school, this is our day.
We are Roberts, hip hip hooray!
Such was the energy and emotion on display at an official ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Roberts Academy at Elon University, a new elementary school made possible through a transformational gift to the university by a Florida couple that has made the education of children with dyslexia the focus of their philanthropy.
The school was established in 2025 by the generosity of Marjorie and Hal Roberts, who witnessed firsthand the transformative power a multisensory approach to reading education can have for children with dyslexia. Their gift supports both the Roberts Academy and the Roberts Center for Dyslexia and Engaged Learning within Elon’s Dr. Jo Watts Williams School of Education.
The Roberts Academy at Elon University is the fourth private school established by the couple, joining Vanderbilt University, Mercer University, and Florida Southern College in a network of programs committed to the advancement of education for children with dyslexia and related conditions.
The school opened this fall in a temporary location on Trollinger Avenue for third and fourth graders. Plans are unforlding for a new 30,000-square-foot building that will eventually host between 150 and 200 students each year in the first through sixth grade. Roberts Academy teachers use the Orton-Gillingham method of instruction, considered one of the most effective approaches to helping students develop strategies for overcoming their reading difficulties.
The ribbon-cutting on Oct. 2, 2026, featured an invocation by the Rev. Kirstin Boswell, Elon University’s chaplain, followed with remarks of reflection and gratitude by:
- Elon University President Connie Ledoux Book
- Philanthropist Marjie Roberts
- Ann Bullock, dean of the Dr. Jo Watts Williams School of Education
- Alicia Tate, acting director of the Roberts Academy at Elon University
- Tait Arend, senior philanthropic adviser at Elon University
Book recounted for those in attendance how Elon University made a promise to children with dyslexia that a learning difference would not be a limitation – and a promise to parents that they would not be alone in their journey to understand their children’s learning needs. Book then delivered a charge to the students seated before her.
“I want you to know that Elon is a Hebrew word for ‘oak,’” she said. “What’s unique about oak trees is they grow the best in groves, and their root systems connect, and they become stronger as a team of trees. I charge you, as little Phoenix, to act like a grove of oak trees and to support each other and to help each other be successful as classmates.”
In her own remarks, Marjie Roberts thanked parents for placing their trust in Elon University and the Roberts Academy.
“This academy has the ability to restart the educational experience of young students and make the experience successful and rewarding,” she said. “It will rebuild their self confidence, enrich their minds and be a source of pride. It will change the lives of students by setting them on a trajectory of achievement and success.
“This is a celebration of what the academy will mean for the 16 children who are now enrolled, what it will mean for their families, and to the thousands of others who will follow.”
This is a celebration of what the academy will mean for the 16 children who are now enrolled, what it will mean for their families, and to the thousands of others who will follow.
– Philanthropist Marjorie Roberts
Tate introduced members of the Roberts Academy faculty and staff and Arend thanked members of the implementation team that worked to launch the academy, with Bullock serving as host and emcee of the afternoon program in the parking lot of Trollinger House.
And then there was the student cheer and the presentation of a personalized gift to the Roberts family: framed artwork featuring paper hearts with the names of each child who is part of the charter class of students.
“To our first families, thank you for believing in our school before the school even existed,” Arend said. “You all believed in us not only before the first stapler was purchased, but before the first staple was purchased. You trusted us with the children you love more than anything. And while there will be many, many children who walk through those doors, there will only ever be one first day, and there will only ever be these first 16 students.”