New Site Coordinator Finds Kindred Spirit & So Much More to Love @ GiGi’s Playhouse Westchester

Tuesday Afternoon at the Playhouse
From Gabrielle Mason, Site Coordinator since May

I was having some trouble getting our sign-in kiosk online so Matthew, 15, and his phenomenal literacy tutor, Lise (pictured below with her great summer literacy guys), went off to start their session. A few minutes later, I popped up to the Learning Lab to ask if they could help be my “guinea pigs” to see if sign-in was online… which led to a mind-blowingly wonderful conversation with Matthew about the joys of rodents as pets, popular misunderstandings of the intelligence and interactive qualities of rats as pets (who, we agree, need a marketing director to change perceptions, and I nominate Matthew!), and a wide-ranging discussion of wild, wacky, and little known rodents of the world; such as the capybara (largest), cavy, and kooky-looking Chinese flying squirrel; as well as related (but non-rodent) marsupials, including the wombat, apparently a personal favorite for Matthew as well as myself.

Besides displaying incredible knowledge and recall, Matthew also wowed me with his open-mindedness in embracing oft-misunderstood creatures and in making me feel great that I knew about them and loved them, too. Several high fives and hugs later, Matthew and Lise headed off to dive back into their reading for the day. Meanwhile, I can’t wait to get home and start digging in my own families’ stash of quirky wildlife guides and researching online to fuel more discussions with – and thoroughly delightful learning from – this engaging, informative, and encouraging young man.

How do I already love GiGi’s Playhouse Westchester? Let me begin to count the ways…

(photo below) The Three Musketeers of Tuesday afternoon summer Literacy Tutoring: Lise, center, with Matthew, left, and Ethan, right.