Meet our Summer Intern, Brooke!

Hello! My name is Brooke Patzner and I am a summer intern with GiGi’s Playhouse!

I just finished my Junior year at Iowa State majoring in Child, Adult, and Family Services as well as minoring in Psychology.  My expected graduation date is for December 2020, so it is approaching very soon! 

Here is a little about myself! I am originally from Illinois, in a suburb outside of Chicago. One of my biggest passions is going on international volunteer trips! While in high school, I had the opportunity to go to Haiti three times with my church working in an orphanage, construction work, and teaching English in the nearby schools. Last summer, I decided to go to Uganda all by myself. I chose to work with an organization for children with various disabilities. It was a wonderful experience and after graduation, I hope to go on more volunteer trips!

One of my first tasks as the summer intern for GiGi’s Playhouse was to attend GiGi’s At Home Live and On Demand Programs. As I browsed through the On-Demand videos on GiGi’s Playhouse website, I was very intrigued by the School Age (5-12) Social Skills program. I loved the theme, friendship, as that is a very important topic to teach young individuals. I thought it was very helpful not only for myself as a viewer, but for the participants as well, to have a planned schedule, as this helps with organization.  The program leader had lots of enthusiasm and it made the program that much more enjoyable! Another aspect of the program I thought was great, was how interactive it was. The participants were asked to give thumbs up or thumbs down in certain activities and give virtual high fives. Overall, the Social Skills programs for School Age children was a wonderful program for younger individuals to help teach them essential friendship skills!