Kinnick Stadium honors Kid Captains on Kids’ Day

Iowa City, Iowa – For Kid’s Day, Kinnick Stadium opened its doors. The team announced the season’s Kid Captains during the event. Every year, the program celebrates twelve captains who are patients at the University of Iowa Stead Family Children’s Hospital.

A further custom known as “The Hawkeye Wave” pays tribute to the pediatric hospital patients.
Towards the end of the first quarter at home games, fans take a minute to wave at the children viewing the action through the hospital windows above the stadium.

Mya Gilchrist has utilized those windows to watch a lot of games.

“My favorite aspect of football is the Hawkeye Wave,” Gilchrist declared.

Gilchrist received a Kid Captain selection. She will receive recognition at the Hawkeyes’ game against Troy on September 14.

Gilchrist claimed that since receiving a brain cancer diagnosis at the age of 18 months, she has been a patient at the children’s hospital. She battled through two relapses and numerous rounds of chemotherapy.

Her brain cancer has now gone into remission. However, she received a bone marrow cancer diagnosis in 2022.

According to her relatives, it doesn’t stop her from changing things.

She is a really giving person who helps a lot of people in our neighborhood. In addition, she founded the Mya Strong Foundation, which supports other Iowan children battling cancer,” Mya Gilchrist’s mother, Brooke Gilchrist, stated.

The Hawkeyes are now returning the favor to Gilchrist.

“This is all about me, I love Iowa Hawkeye football,” Gilchrist remarked.