2019 The Remy Johnston Certificate of Merit
The 2019 Remy Johnston Certificate of Merit was awarded to Mika Bardin at the International Dyslexia Association’s annual conference. Mika is the 2019 National Champion US Squash GU15. She founded Olympic Squash 2020 and 2024 to lead the push to have squash added to 2020 and 2024 Olympics. Mika also has a philanthropic spirit. She mentors and coaches children in Harlem, New York, through an after-school program, StreetSquash, helping children realize their academic, athletic, and personal potential. She served as an ambassador for Girls With Heart to inspire tween girls to pursue their dreams and define themselves on their own terms. Mika is creator of GirlShape, which provides free fitness advice and videos for girls by girls. She even hosts her own podcast Dyslexic Solutions where she interviews some of the world’s foremost experts on dyslexia.
The Remy Johnston Award of Merit was established to honor the memory of Remy Johnston, a young student with dyslexia, the son of Joyce and Ronald Johnston and a philosophy major at Wooster College in Ohio, who died tragically in February, 1989, only a few months before he was to graduate.
The Award recognizes a young student with dyslexia who
- is a worthy role model for others,
- refuses to be limited by the challenges of learning differences,
- strives for excellence, choosing to live as an achiever, and
- continues to enrich the lives of families, friends, employers, through service in the community.