MasonBuzz.com

Michael D. Clark reports:

It’s prom day for Lebanon High School senior Joylynn Little .

Like millions of other teenage girls across America, her focus is on her looks. Assisted by her classmates, Joylynn fixes her hair atop her pretty face, now lit with happiness.

Her mirror on this special day reflects a prom princess, a purple flower adorning her hair.

“I like the prom,” the 17-year-old says prior to Friday’s fifth annual “Daylight Prom,” for more than 100 area special-needs students.

“My dress is purple and it’s my favorite color,” says Joylynn, who has Down syndrome.

For the first time, the event was held in the high school’s spacious, main gym to accommodate the crowd. Special-needs students – and their families and friends – came from Lebanon and eight other school districts in Warren and Montgomery counties to savor a rare spotlight of pageantry.

(more…)

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Tags: Tags: daylight prom, deerfield township, down syndrome, jim freson, joylynn little, kings high school, lauren freson, lebanon, lebanon high school, lone star ball, mason, prom, special needs, warren county

A Mason toddler will be the face of a national campaign of the National Down Syndrome Society set to debut next month in New York City’s Times Square.

Breanna Barber, the 21-month-old daughter of Neil and Stacey Barber, will be featured in a video campaign on the MTV plasma jumbo screen on Times Square.

The Times Square video production kicks off National Down Syndrome Awareness Month.  More than 250 “Buddy Walks” have been organized in cities across the nation, including Cincinnati.

Each year the National Down Syndrome Society selects 200 photos from among thousands of photos submitted that exemplify the joy and gifts that people with Down syndrome bring to their communities.

The images are used to help demonstrate that people with Down syndrome can be included in community activities, education and employment.

Neil and Stacey Barber and the “Barber Family Team, Breanna’s Buddies” will be walking in the Down Syndrome Association of Greater Cincinnati’s 10th annual Buddy Walk set for Sept. 10 at Sawyer Point.

“We are thrilled that her picture was chosen for the Times Square Buddy Walk presentation,” said Stacey Barber of Breanna.

“This is our second Buddy Walk in Cincinnati and I couldn’t think of a better organization to support than the Down Syndrome Association of Greater Cincinnati,” she said.  “They have been supporting our family since Breanna was a little more than a month old. The Buddy Walk is a great way to show our support of these extraordinary people like our little Breanna.”

To register for the walk or for more information, call 513-761-5400 or email Kerin@dsagc.com.

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Tags: Tags: breanna barber, buddy walks, charity, children, down syndrome, down syndrome association of greater cincinnati, fundraising, mason, national down syndrome society, neil and stacey barber, sawyer point

Changing Minds, a nonprofit organization for parents of children with Down syndrome, will hold a free seminar on Saturday, April 9 at Great Wolf Lodge in Mason.

Changing Minds founder and Down syndrome advocate Teresa Cody, herself a parent of a child with Down syndrome, will speak on the Changing Minds protocol the organization says helps improve memory and cognition in people with Down syndrome.

Joanne Mothes, who has taught children with Down Syndrome for more than 38 years, will also speak on her experiences in the classroom with children with Down syndrome.

Check-in begins at 8:30 a.m. that morning, followed by the program from 9 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.  Great Wolf Lodge is at 2501 Great Wolf Drive in Mason.

A light breakfast, refreshments and lunch will be served. Donations accepted at the door. To register, go to www.planetreg.com/E21413392658. For more information, e-mail Julia Smith at Julia.smith@bms.com or go to www.changingmindsfoundation.org.

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Tags: Tags: changing minds, children, down syndrome, free seminar, great wolf lodge