Ready for Summer with the Rosenwinkels
Alan, Marla, Emilia and Annie Rosenwinkel
“Sometimes [our girls] end up spending more time over here than they do at home!” Marla Rosenwinkel marveled. The family (comprised of Marla, her husband Alan, and daughters Annie and Emilia) lives in the neighborhood, and the girls have been part of the early childhood, afterschool care, summer camp and swim lesson programs, so finding themselves at the J isn’t unusual. What’s kept them members, however, isn’t just the convenience or multitude of programming options (though those are nice perks), but the people.
“It’s Kind of Like Family”
Alan and Marla have appreciated getting to know other parents, but they are fully aware that it’s their daughters’ relationships with the other kids and JCC staff that mean the most. “Annie now goes to elementary school down the road, but a lot of the kids that she grew up with through the ECE program, while they may go to half a dozen different schools, a lot still come back for afterschool care and summer camp. So she gets to see them, kids that she’s literally known since she was a baby,” Alan said.
“We tease Annie that that she’s a celebrity when she walks around the halls here because everybody knows who she is,” Marla added. “My mom will come pick up and say, ‘I have no idea who said hi to us but four people said hi – I don’t know who they are but they know her and she knows them!’ We know they’re in good hands.”
“The staff are absolutely great,” Alan said. “They know both our girls by name. They’ve seen them grow up. Walking over here we waved to Ms. Claudia – she had Emilia as an infant, and because she’s moved classrooms, we’re fortunate that she’ll have her again. It’s an ever-growing bond between the staff and the kids.”
Right: Emilia on an early childhood playground, June 2022
“Just Like Big Sis”
Right: Emilia in the Eskenazi Water Park’s Mordoh Zero-Depth Pool, August 2022
Annie and Emilia both love all the extras the early childhood and CampJCC programs have to offer. “They’re both fish, thanks to how much they swim at the JCC,” Alan said, noting that Annie was especially fearless in the pool on a recent vacation. And while Emilia’s not quite old enough to attend CampJCC, she still gets in on the Leon Mordoh Lip Sync fun.
“Annie loves to practice and do her moves, so Emilia is always doing it right there with her,” Marla said. “When it’s time for Lip Sync, Emilia will go watch it – it’s a good thing for both of them, to enjoy each other, and Emilia inevitably sees her friends who have older siblings who go to camp.”
Learn more about the J’s early childhood program at JCCindy.org/early-childhood-education/, afterschool care at JCCindy.org/after-school-care/, and CampJCC at JCCindy.org/summer-camps/.