My Story Vault with Dr. Dennis Rebelo13 Mars 2025

My Story Vault: Building Winner’s Circle XR Academy with Juan Rodriguez

Juan Rodriguez’s journey—from New York City’s boroughs to the heart of Providence—charts a powerful narrative of resilience, innovation, and service. In this episode, Juan shares how his upbringing, family influences, and life experiences led to the creation of Winner’s Circle XR Academy, a nonprofit dedicated to providing access to virtual, augmented, and mixed reality learning for students in underserved communities.

Juan reflects on childhood lessons learned through rough-and-tumble play and how navigating new environments honed his observational skills. He recounts transformative moments—like his time in Upward Bound—that first sparked his understanding of agency and leadership.

We explore how Juan's personal experiences with underutilized technology in classrooms and the loss of his brother to violence propelled him from a career in video production to becoming an educator and social innovator. Today, Juan runs a downtown Providence STEAM hub that helps middle school students and educators integrate technology through real-world projects, including the Mind Blast Hackathon, which challenges students to create VR-based solutions to social justice issues.

From overcoming imposter syndrome to reshaping what education looks like, Juan shares lessons for anyone working to empower the next generation.

Links:

Winner's Circle XR Academy:
https://www.winnerscirclexr.com/

Berkshire Innovation Center Accelerator Program:
https://www.berkshireinnovationcenter.com/accelerator-program

Narrative Research Group:
https://narrativeresearchgroup.org/

For more information or to share a question or insight, please email Shannon [at] narrativeresearchgroup [dot] org

Produced by: Nate Christy

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