{"id":142201,"date":"2024-05-04T12:03:00","date_gmt":"2024-05-04T17:03:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/madison\/?p=142201"},"modified":"2024-05-06T12:52:22","modified_gmt":"2024-05-06T17:52:22","slug":"happy-anniversary-gigis-madison-maya-style","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/madison\/happy-anniversary-gigis-madison-maya-style\/","title":{"rendered":"Happy Anniversary, GiGi’s Madison! Maya Style"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This is a blog by Maya Greengus, GiGi\u2019s Playhouse Madison\u2019s first board member with Down syndrome. Check back often to hear more from Maya, as she plans on sharing throughout the year \u2013 here and via our social media <\/em>channel<\/i>. If you missed her first blog, you can find it here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m excited to announce that GiGi\u2019s Playhouse Madison is turning 8 years old this month! In honor of our anniversary, I want to provide my story as to how I\u2019ve been introduced to GiGi\u2019s Playhouse Madison in 2012.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n

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Me, at the Playhouse, in the early days <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

I started getting involved when I was entering middle school. My mom got the opportunity to teach yoga to a group of people at the Playhouse, and she asked me to help out. Ever since then, I felt passionate about doing more than just volunteering, so later on, I took on the concept of creating an advocate committee. I talked to Julie Byrnes, the board president, at that time, who approved me talking to Sadler Bell about this. He and I decided to be co-leaders and demonstrate our advocacy by showing up for events and creating social media posts. Since then, we have grown as a group, and are friends outside of the Playhouse.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Sadler Bell, Me & Site Director Kelly Antonson<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The advocate committee is undergoing some changes, and we are working independently on our own advocacy work. In 2021, Jen Strauss and I were both selected to be in the National GiGi\u2019s Playhouse Acceptance calendar, which was quite an honor. A couple months later, I won the Down Syndrome Advocate Award at Gallery 21 from DSAW.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here are my favorite TOP FIVE memories from the past eight years at GiGi’s Playhouse Madison: <\/p>\n\n\n

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1. When Kelly and I went to Wales Elementary School to talk about Generation G<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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2. The 2022 GiGiFit Dash for Down syndrome – it rained and we all wore ponchos! <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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3. When NBC15 (now WMTV15) came to GiGi’s at 7a.m. to do a segment my Dad and I appeared in. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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4. Gala 2022<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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5. Gala 2023<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Everyone in these pictures, I met at GiGi’s. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

How did I become a member of the board? Here is a little about what inspired me to join the board of directors. <\/p>\n\n\n

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Alexa & Me<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The first time I met Alexa was at the World Down Syndrome Day Party at GiGi\u2019s Playhouse Madison, in 2023. Ever since then, we have had a very close bond. Alexa’s Mom Kim always says, \u201cthey look like they are sisters.\u201d\u00a0 What I admire most about Alexa is her smile when she sees me at GiGi\u2019s Playhouse Madison events. Kim says she asks, \u201cwhen can I see Maya next?\u201d I feel like Alexa views me as a mentor and role model to her own life. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

My new year\u2019s resolutions for 2024 were to pick up an old hobby that I wanted to continue doing since 2016 (I joined a tap dance class at Vibe Dance Studio in October, 2023),\u00a0and step up into a leadership role at GiGi\u2019s Playhouse Madison. I still continue to this very day to advocate for what people with Down syndrome can achieve, and now, I\u2019m a public figure at GiGi\u2019s Playhouse Madison and the first individual born with Down Syndrome to be on the Board of Directors.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is a blog by Maya Greengus, GiGi\u2019s Playhouse Madison\u2019s first board member with Down syndrome. Check back often to hear more from Maya, as she plans on sharing throughout the year \u2013 here and via our social media channel. If you missed her first blog, you can find it here. I\u2019m excited to announce…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10894,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-142201","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/madison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142201","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/madison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/madison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/madison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10894"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/madison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=142201"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/madison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142201\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/madison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=142201"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/madison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=142201"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/madison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=142201"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}