Heritage Florida Jewish News - Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice

Buckle up your seat belt and climb into our time machine as we celebrate 40 years of Camp J fun, traditions, memories and smiles.

While so much has changed here in Maitland over the last four decades, it’s amazing to see how many great camp traditions stay the same. That’s because we go by the old saying, “If it ain’t broken, don’t fix it!”  

Don’t confuse us though for a traditional day camp stuck in the 1970s. This year we have made significant improvements to our programming as we continue to evolve in order to meet the needs of today’s children and teens.  New this summer, we welcome Mad Science and KidzArt into our Camp J family, and we have a new partner for our Theater Camp: Starving Artists.

We have also beefed up the programming for our eight weeks of Camp J. Sure, we might not have Native American lore as a specialist activity as we did in 1973, but we do have new specialist areas such as digital video combined with drama, science and nature, as well as new electives full of activities that your child wouldn’t even think would be included at a day camp.  Can you say drum circle?

Camp J has everything you need from toddlers to 10th grade.  I would know because I was a camper here from the time I was a toddler through 10th grade, and then later I returned as a staff member for five summers.

Now once again, I have the fortunate opportunity to return to the JCC in which I grew up, after running JCC camps in Richmond, Va., and Austin, Texas, for the past nine years.  

I am extremely proud and confident in our summer camps and look forward to working with our camp directors, Abby Paulson and Jodi Alter, in ensuring that your child(ren) have the same (but updated) amazing camp experience I had when I was a camper here.  

Here at the Roth JCC, we realize that caring for children is both an immense responsibility and an awesome opportunity.  We look forward to exceeding your expectations for your child’s summer camp experience in a safe, exciting and enriching environment.

Robby Etzkin is assistant executive director at Roth JCC of Greater Orlando.