Calling All Young Leaders!

COMMUNITY

By Beth Milograno Berry, Jewish Community Alliance

Imagine a summer job that is entertaining, fun and extremely rewarding; a position where valuable life skills are promised to improve daily. As summer camp counselors, the young leaders at our Jewish Community Alliance (JCA) nurture their future careers every day.

“I became more responsible as a counselor which prepared me for the future. You must think outside of yourself to always be able to respond to the children in your care,” explains Jessie Friedman, a JCA camp counselor from 2017 to 2020 and graduate of the University of Florida.

Jessie is now a Psychometrist, which means she administers and scores neuropsychological, psychological, personality and academic tests for patients in need.

It doesn’t take long to find former JCA Summer Camp counselors with promising careers. Andrea and Adam Daveline who were Theatre Camp specialists are now married, have three children, and live in Los Angeles. Having grown up at the “J”, Adam worked several summers as a camp counselor, then brought his girlfriend Andrea home from college to enjoy the same professional experience.

“As college students, we were both looking for experience in the arts, and Shelly Hughes at JCA gave it to us by providing us with amazing creative liberty to connect with children at the J,” says Adam. The Davelines say those experiences afforded them many career opportunities, like performances on stage with Disney and on Broadway. Today, Andrea and Adam are proud co-owners of MOD Productions, where the entrepreneurs offer writing workshops and support to budding artists wanting to transform their work onto the big screen.

“Being a camp counselor gave us valuable theatre and production experience,” says Andrea. “It taught us how to connect better with people and how to tell stories to connect with the families in the audience.”

The JCA is hiring problem solvers who use their management skills to inspire and help others succeed.

Young leaders, join us for the perfect summer experience! JCA Summer Camp counselors hired by April 1, 2022, who work at least eight weeks of our camp will receive a $400 bonus at the end of their seasonal employment. Email your resume to Nancy Green via nancy.green@jcajax.org.

Our JCA is thankful for the Jewish Federation & Foundation of Northeast Florida and their continuous support of our JCA Summer Camp programs. Each year, we receive a portion of camp scholarship funds from The Sol & Hilda Goldman Early Childhood and Summer Camp Endowment Fund and The Coplan & Goldman Families JCA Camp Scholarship Endowment Fund at the Jewish Federation & Foundation. These generous funds provide thousands of dollars in scholarships for summer camp and early childhood education at the JCA so that we never have to turn anyone away for the inability to pay.