{"id":142295,"date":"2025-05-09T15:53:00","date_gmt":"2025-05-09T20:53:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/chicago\/?p=142295"},"modified":"2025-05-09T15:53:00","modified_gmt":"2025-05-09T20:53:00","slug":"welcome-melissa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/chicago\/build-out\/uncategorized\/welcome-melissa","title":{"rendered":"Welcome, Melissa!"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Hi everyone! My name is Melissa, and I\u2019m so excited to be joining GiGi\u2019s Playhouse Chicago for the next 14 weeks as part of my doctoral capstone project at UIC, where I\u2019m currently an occupational therapy doctoral student.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During my time here, I\u2019ll be leading the Art Explosion and Playhouse Pals programs as part of my doctoral capstone project, which focuses on supporting siblings of loved ones with Down syndrome. Through this project, I\u2019m working to develop fun, meaningful events and helpful resources that strengthen sibling relationships and foster a sense of connection and inclusion within families. I\u2019m excited to learn from the amazing crew here and all the families who make GiGi\u2019s such a vibrant community!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I\u2019m not studying or planning programs, here are a few fun facts about me:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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  1. I\u2019m on a mission to make sibling support feel like family game night\u2014welcoming, meaningful, and fun.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. I love all things tea\u2014you\u2019ll often find me sipping on an iced drink on a hot summer day.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. I\u2019m a huge K-pop fan and was even part of a K-pop dance group in college\u2014feel free to come chat with me about your favorite groups or songs!<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    I\u2019m so excited to meet all of you and look forward to being a part of this amazing community!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Hi everyone! My name is Melissa, and I\u2019m so excited to be joining GiGi\u2019s Playhouse Chicago for the next 14 weeks as part of my doctoral capstone project at UIC, where I\u2019m currently an occupational therapy doctoral student. During my time here, I\u2019ll be leading the Art Explosion and Playhouse Pals programs as part of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":221,"featured_media":142296,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-142295","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142295","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/221"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=142295"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142295\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/142296"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=142295"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=142295"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=142295"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}