On May 23, 2022, Kelly Ripa, Mark Consuelos, and their son Joaquin Consuelos ’17, hosted Gaynor Gala 2022. The next morning, Kelly Ripa joined her cohost Ryan Seacrest on LIVE with Kelly and Ryan to talk about the event and about how much Gaynor has meant to their family.
Kelly related the story that in May of his first grade year, Joaquin was diagnosed with dyslexia and dysgraphia. In a happy twist of fate, both Kelly Ripa and her husband Mark Consuelos had attended the, in her words, “famous” Gaynor Gala years before, and knew about the school’s mission to educate bright students with language-based learning differences. They immediately applied to the school, and Joaquin was accepted for the fall of his second grade year. He spent six years at Gaynor, graduating in 2017.
At this year’s Gala, celebrating the 60th anniversary of Stephen Gaynor School, Joaquin related the story of a conversation he had with his second grade teacher, who told him, “Use your time here wisely, because the lessons you learn here will carry you through the rest of your life.” At the time, Joaquin did not have the life experience yet to allow him to understand her advice, but now, “it all makes sense. And the lessons I have learned at Gaynor I have taken with me into college.” Kelly said that Joaquin has said, “Every single good thing that has happened to me, happened to me because of these special education teachers who sacrificed so much.”
Skip to the 4:19 mark in the video below to watch the story: