A Message From Megan

Hello GiGi’s Playhouse! My name is Megan Frey, and I am the new Career Programs Manager here at the Hoffman Estates playhouse. This means I help oversee GiGi Prep, GiGiU, GiGi Professional, and Hugs & Mugs. I graduated from Georgia Southern

GiGi’s Participant and Megan Frey at Cubs Night

University in 2017 with my undergraduate degree in Recreation Therapy. I completed my 560-hour internship at Camp Aranzazu in Rockport, Texas providing a camp experience for kids with a wide variety of disabilities and illnesses including kidney transplants, asthma, Epilepsy, Muscular Dystrophy, cancer, Autism, Down syndrome, heart transplants, and many more. After my internship, I took and passed my certification exam, making me a Certified Therapeutic Recreation Specialist. I have had a few jobs since graduating college including being a

paraprofessional at Riverside Brookfield High School to two students with Down syndrome, working as a Residential Program Director at Glenkirk in Northbrook, being a therapeutic assistant at Blue Bird Day in Chicago, and a Recreation Coordinator for Teen & Adult Programming at SEASPAR. I genuinely love working with individuals with disabilities, and I am so excited to be part of the team here at GiGi’s Playhouse!

So now a little about me, personally. I currently live in Rolling Meadows with my boyfriend, Fred, and our yellow lab mix, Milly. I grew up in North Riverside, attending Riverside Brookfield High School where I swam, played basketball, and softball. I also played travel softball until I was 18 years old and continue to play in different leagues during the summer and fall. I love taking Milly for walks and runs in different forest preserves, and the occasional run downtown by Lake Michigan. I also completed the 2019 Chicago Triathlon, and plan to participate in the 2022 triathlon as well. My favorite TV shows are: The Office, Schitt’s Creek, and Friends. I am a huge country music fan (Luke Combs is my absolute favorite) but you can also find me listening to ABBA, Shania Twain, Beyonce, and The Jonas Brothers. Chipotle is my happy place, but any place with pasta is a close second. I am one of the biggest Chicago White Sox and Bears fans around, so you will find me at Soldier Field sometime this fall! I spend a lot of time in Fox Lake, Wisconsin fishing and spending time on the boat enjoying the sunshine with my friends.

I am so excited to be part of the GiGi family, and I have enjoyed my time here so far getting to know all of the families. I can’t wait to see what the future holds!

Love always,

Megan Frey