The Lab School Annual Gala
Each year since 1985, The Lab School of Washington has held an Annual Gala to celebrate notable achievers with learning differences.
The 39th Annual Gala recognized and celebrated Dr. Toby Cosgrove, MD, former CEO of the Cleveland Clinic; Quinn Murphy, celebrity make-up artist, podcaster, and entrepreneur; and Lindsay Wright '02, a school counselor and business owner who is also this year's Distinguished Alum.
Reflecting on their own journeys with learning differences, all of the honorees all spoke of learning to appreciate the way that their brains work. They focused on the advantages of their creative ways of thinking and the empowerment that comes from forging their own path in the world. Dr. Cosgrove reflected that he was turned down to thirteen of the fourteen medical schools to which he applied, but rather than being discouraged, this fueled his success at the school he was accepted to and went on to find great success as a heart surgeon and the CEO of the Cleveland Clinic. Now the father to a successful daughter with dyslexia, he spoke about the importance of empowering and supporting young students with learning differences so they know that they are able to thrive.
Asked by a student to reflect on whether his dyslexia had impacted him negatively, Quinn Murphy replied that it was only in school that he felt a negative impact, because the narrow way his school defined success didn't match up with how his brain worked. As he toured the Lab campus and met students, Quinn remarked that he wishes he had the opportunity to go to a school like Lab that was catered to the was that he and other dyslexic students learn. Alum Lindsay Wright only attended Lab for High School, so it was her first opportunity to see Lab's young students at the Foxhall campus. Her time at Lab she looks at as being crucial for becoming the person she is today: "At Lab I learned to be proud of who I am and to never accept someone trying to define me as anything other than myself."
The Gala itself on Saturday night was a magnificent celebration of the Lab community. In addition to hearing from the Outstanding Achievers and Alum, guests were treated to a special performance of "Far From the Home I Love" from the recent LabDrama production of Fiddler on the Roof. It was an amazing night of food, dancing, and celebrating Lab's power to cultivate our students' futures! Take a look below for more photos of the night's festivities.
History of the Annual Gala
In 1985, The Lab School of Washington hosted the First Annual Gala Honoring Outstanding Achievers with Learning Differences. This event celebrated notable people with learning differences who achieved great success in their respective fields. Every year since, The Lab School has celebrated outstanding achievers from a broad range of professions: from artists to athletes, politicians to paleontologists, executives to educators, and more. The one thing that each of these honorees have in common is that they, like our students at Lab, have turned their learning differences into advantages.
Each year, the awardees also have the opportunity to visit The Lab School campus for "Gala Day." After touring the school and talking with the students, Gala Day ends with an assembly in front of the whole school where the awardees answer questions from the students and speak about their own struggles growing up with learning differences. It is a great opportunity for our students to see that anything is possible and that greatness is theirs for the taking!
