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Month: July 2026

Snapshots from Camp, Where Every Kid Feels Like They Belong

Posted on by Erica Silverstein

Summer camp is so much more than childcare when school’s out of session. The Pozez JCC should know — we run three of them! 

At each of our youth-based camps, we focus on what summer is really about: a time when kids can let loose and have fun, make new friends, and try new activities without pressure. Campers can shed school-based identities and labels and build confidence in who they truly are.  

Kids fighting cancer can play games and be silly in a safe space without feeling “different.” Neurodivergent teens and young adults can enjoy fun outings with peers with the support of caring staff who ensure every outing is safe, welcoming, and smooth. Shy kids feel safe participating in group dances and skits; sporty or artsy kids are encouraged to share their skills; and everyone is welcome to have fun in the best way possible. 

Curious what makes our youth camps so special? Three of our directors shared their favorite snapshots of summer life to show us what camp life is all about. (So as not to omit adults from our camp story, look for info on our upcoming camp for adults at the end of this blog!) 

Camp Achva (a traditional day camp based on Jewish values) 

Every Friday, Camp Achva comes together for Ruach, a chance for each group to share a skit, interpretive dance, or original song connected to the week’s theme. For one camper, though, performing with their group has been a struggle. They love theatre and being up on stage, but a group presentation is not where they see themselves. 

So, along with their counselors, this camper imagined a different way to participate. 

This summer, for the first time, we invited the camper to help host Ruach alongside one of our staff members. Over the course of the week, the two of them wrote and developed short skits to perform between group presentations, shaping the transitions between performances. The camper also helped add a new value to that week’s theme. 

The fit was right. This was a role in which this camper could be funny, creative, and fully part of Ruach without having to participate in the same way as everyone else. 

At Camp Achva, we recognize that belonging isn’t always about helping someone fit into a role that already exists. Sometimes it means noticing what campers are trying to tell us, making room for a different kind of contribution, and allowing them to show us what the experience could become.  

— Greg Feitel, School-Aged Services Director 

Sunrise Day Camp (for children with cancer and their siblings) 

Every day at Sunrise Day Camp is the best day of camp. Our campers don’t necessarily come every day, for a variety of reasons, so it’s important that each day is equally special for every camper. Any day could be a camper’s first, last, or only day of camp that summer. This is a belief we instill in our staff during orientation and something that we hold in our hearts all summer long.  

On July 13, a new family joined us for their first day of camp. Two big brothers and their little sister rode the Blue Bus from Gaithersburg, MD, and entered Sunrise smack in the middle of the season. But it was no big deal, because our staff was prepared.  

The new campers played games, crafted art projects, swam, and made friends, as if it were everyone else’s first day, as well. And at the end of the day, when I asked the oldest brother if he’d had a great day, he responded “The best day!”  

Mission accomplished. 

— Joellen Kriss-Broubalow, Sunrise Day Camp-Greater Washington Director 
 

Camp Kesher (for neurodivergent teens and young adults) 

The word kesher is the Hebrew word for connection, relationship, or bond. This concept is the heart of Camp Kesher, a specialized summer day camp designed for teens and young adults with disabilities. For several participants, this summer was their first experience at camp. For many others, returning to this community has become a cherished rite of summer. Campers create bonds with each other and between themselves and the dedicated staff.  

The unmistakable magic of the program is palpable from the very first moments of the week. As campers begin to gather on Monday morning, the J’s lobby fills with excitement for the hours of shared fun ahead. You will hear names being joyfully called out, spontaneous clapping, and excited shrieking, and see a sea of warm hugs as friends reunite. Before boarding the bus each morning, the energy is already high with a competitive game of Uno in the community room. 

Throughout the week, the group operates as a family as they explore the Northern Virginia area together. They go on local outings to hit targets at Topgolf, play Skee-Ball at George Mason University, tackle indoor climbing walls, challenge themselves on a high ropes course and zipline, push their limits in an adapted CrossFit class, and share meals together. When they are back at camp, they enjoy dipping in the pool, group trivia games, learning new dance moves, finding calm in yoga class, and karaoke, where everyone cheers each other on.  

Throughout it all, campers are having the time of their lives. 

— Alison Pasternak, Inclusion and Disability Services Program Coordinator 

 
And, as promised, a note about Camp Gadol for our ageless adults! 

It’s never too late to get a taste of camp! Camp Gadol at Pozez JCC, now in its third year, offers a weeklong, half-day camp experience for adults 55+. This summer, from August 10-14, participants can relive their camp days or enjoy summer the way they always wanted to as a kid. For five days, grownups will “travel the world” to play games, make crafts, sing songs, cook and eat snacks with other youngsters-at-heart. 

Learn more: https://thej.org/learning-culture/camp-gadol/ 

At the J, we promise – this summer, everyone has a place to belong. 

A Day in the Life of the Pozez JCC Lobby

Posted on by Sarah Braesch

Before the sun is fully up, before the coffee’s even finished brewing at home for most of us, the JCC lobby is already coming alive. It’s the first thing our members see when they arrive and the last thing they pass on their way out. In between, the lobby quietly holds the whole day together — swimmers and preschoolers, gym regulars and staff, all crossing paths in the same 2,046 square feet.

If you want to understand what makes the J tick, just stand in the lobby on a regular Thursday and watch the day unfold.

Before the Dawn: The Building Wakes Up

Before anyone else arrives, Officer Chavez is on site, unlocking the doors. Security does the first walk-through of the day — lights on, systems checked, building ready. It’s quiet, it’s dark outside, and for a brief window, the lobby belongs to no one but him.

Soon after, the lobby gets its heartbeat. Lisa opens the front desk while down the hall, Tracy flips on the lights at J-Fit, readying the fitness floor for the early crowd. Gladys starts the coffee and sets up for the day — because no morning at the JCC really begins until that rich coffee smell hits the lobby. Over at the pool, the lifeguard checks in, ready to keep watch over the day’s first swimmers.

Even before the doors officially open, the first swimmers appear alongside a handful of gym rats who could probably find their way to the treadmill in their sleep. They do what regulars do best: catch up with Lisa, trade morning small talk, and complain good-naturedly about the hour. It’s the kind of small thing that makes people feel like members of a community, not just holders of a key fob.

The Morning Surge: From Workouts to Backpacks

As the early morning progresses, our Early Childhood Learning Center administrators and teachers trickle in, ready to turn classrooms into places where little ones can have a very big day.

Slowly, the space settles into its morning rhythm. Freshly showered swimmers and early gym-goers fill the area, coffee in one hand, newspaper in the other. This is the JCC at its most social — people trading stories and catching up on the day ahead, in no particular hurry to leave. The first wave of staff members weave among the regulars on their way to their desks.

Then, our smallest members make their entrance, and the lobby really shows its range. Swimmers and serious lifters make way for backpacks, tiny shoes, and the particular chaos of preschool drop-off. Parents linger for a quick hug before the kids race in like they own the place. Honestly, some of them kind of do.

Just when you think the energy levels can’t get any higher, the next wave hits the floor. Fitness Boxing and Aqua Zumba folks swarm in, ready to move. The lobby is now running at full volume — multiple generations, multiple purposes, all under one roof. The spin class crowd rolls through, clipping in for an early sweat, right alongside our Sunrise campers — kids with cancer and their siblings, here to play and have fun like everyone else at the J.

Late-Morning to Midday: High Stride and Fresh Challah

By mid-morning, the building hits full stride. Greetings ring out as the rest of the J staff heads through the lobby to their offices. Aqua Zumba devotees trade places with Aqua Fitness fans. Hearts and Mah Jongg players find their lucky seats for the day’s games. Camper groups move through in clusters on their way to different activities, counselors keeping the lines together. The leadership team passes through on their way to the Cultural Arts Center (CAC) for their monthly meeting. With so many groups crossing back and forth, it’s a wonder no one collides.

As the lunch hour approaches, pickleball players descend on the lobby, goggles and paddles in hand, while a meeting of three different departments convenes right in the middle of everything. And then the challah arrives — and suddenly the whole space smells like Shabbat, even though it’s only Thursday.

When the afternoon shuffle begins, campers pass back through on their way to eat lunch outside. A dozen regulars file into the auditorium for Senior Fit, and teenage boys trickle in in small groups, headed for the gym. The Ping Pong players stop by just long enough to caffeinate before heading back to the CAC for their three-hour drop-in game — priorities, clearly, are in order.

The Afternoon Lull and Evening Energy

By mid-afternoon, the lobby takes a collective exhale. One man reads quietly in the corner. A couple sits filling out paperwork for a membership tour. Carla relieves Lisa at the desk and quietly gets everything ready for what’s coming next.

Because the calm never lasts for long.

Late afternoon brings the loudest, happiest stretch of the day. Parents arrive for ECLC pickup, and the kids get very excited. Some head straight for the challah, others make a beeline for Carla and her stickers. Children bustle in for afternoon swim lessons while a pack of teenage girls comes through on their way to J-Fit, scanning the room for friends. The group stretch class arrives, yoga mats tucked under arms, while staff quietly transform the community room for tonight’s book talk.

Nighttime: Winding Down

As evening sets in, the night crew takes over and the lobby gets a new look. The same members who came through this morning in workout gear and bathing suits now return dressed up for the evening’s book event. Young swimmers cycle in and out for a swim club that’s rented the pool for the night. People come and go for evening workouts, the lobby never quite sitting still.

Late into the night, the building finally begins to wind down. The cleaning crew arrives as the doors lock behind the last members. Over in J-Fit, staff give every machine a final wipe-down. Security does one last walk-through, checking that no one’s been left behind in a corner, lost in a workout, a book, or the sauna.

Finally, the lights go out. The lobby that held campers and coffee, championship pickleball and challah, book clubs and baby swimmers finally goes still. Only the cleaning crew remains, moving through the empty space that will, in just a few hours, be Officer Chavez’s to open all over again.

It’s easy to walk through a lobby and never truly see it. But if you slow down enough to watch a single Thursday unfold in ours, you start to see the lobby for what it really is — the place where every part of this community, at every age and every hour, quietly overlaps.