Rachel Fox
Camp Shalom Director
Palm Beach Gardens

Rachel Fox has been working for the JCC of the Greater Palm Beaches since March of 2008 as the Program and Camp Shalom Director for West Palm Beach and then Palm Beach Gardens. In 2011 Fox became the Program and Camp Shalom Director for the agency and  in 2013 Fox was the Assistant Executive Director in Palm Beach Gardens and now is the Program and Camp Shalom Director in Palm Beach Gardens.  In 2010 Fox was named Staff Member of the Year. She attended the JCC Association’s TAG: (Torah, Avodah, Gemilut Chasadim) Jewish Values through JCC Camping in years 2008 and 2009. 

From 2001-2008 Fox served as the Children’s Program Specialist and then the Children, Youth and Camping Director at the Jewish Community Center of Greater Columbus. As the Children, Youth and Camping Director Fox supervised 700 campers each summer in 6 different day camps. Throughout her tenure at the Columbus JCC, Fox was part of the Association of Jewish Center Professionals (AJCP), and received the Central Region Creative Programmer Award in 2006 and the Rabbi Nathan and Sylvia Gaynor Jewish Cultural Award in 2007.   In 2007 Fox received the JCC Association Keeping it Cool, Keeping it Kosher TAG grant and attended the TAG trainings in the years 2005, 2006 and 2007. 

In 2005 Fox was selected as one of 18 JCC Day Camp Directors to participate in the first (and only) cohort of the Lekhu Lakhem Program facilitated by the Mandel Center for Jewish Education at the JCC Association. This 2.5 year program taught Fox how to strengthen the day camp programming and how to put a broader Jewish lens on all aspects of camp.

Fox earned a Bachelor of Science in Human Development and Family Studies at Indiana University. She spent a semester studying Jewish Education at Tel Aviv University and was selected as a Jewish Education Service of North America (JESNA) intern in 2000.

Rachel has twins, Emily and Ethan in the infant program at the Kay Early Childhood Learning Center and can not wait for Camp Shalom to begin.

 

Veronica Maravankin
Vice President of Early Childhood Education
Boynton Beach and Palm Beach Gardens

Veronica has been the Mandel JCC Early Childhood Director since January 2007. She was Religious School Assistant Director at Temple Beth Torah in Wellington, where she also taught in the preschool. Veronica was the 2006 recipient of the Grinspoon-Steinhardt Award for Excellence in Jewish Education. In her native Argentina, Veronica had extensive experience in physical education and sports organization and also taught Judaica and Hebrew education. Veronica has done postgraduate studies in Physical Education Department Management and Psycho-motor Skills. Her Bachelor’s Degrees are in Physical Education and Kinesiology. In the summer of 2008 Veronica completed the Project Zero Summer Institute at Harvard University, School of Education. Veronica is a graduate of the JECEI-Covenant Fellowship for Excellence in Jewish Early Childhood Education and of the Covenant Foundation Fellowship in Leadership in Jewish Early Childhood Education. In April 2012 Veronica was chosen as one of seven JCC’s Early Childhood Directors to be a part of a task force charged with the mission of defining and implementing excellence in JCC’s Early Childhood Education across North America and Canada. Today, the Early Childhood Learning Center directed by Veronica has been named “A School of Excellence” by the JCC Association along with six other schools in the United States and Canada. Veronica is up to date with best practices in Early Childhood Education and is committed to go beyond its definitions. Veronica emigrated from Argentina with her husband and her two children in 2002. Spanish is her first language and she is also fluent in English and Hebrew.

 

 

Maria Sacchi
Yeladim Director
Palm Beach Gardens

Maria Sacchi joined Mandel JCC Early Childhood Department in Palm Beach Gardens in May of 2014. Although she has worked at the JCC in previous years, she continued her college education and comes to us with extensive teaching experience.

In 2012, Maria earned her Bachelor’s degree from Palm Beach Atlantic University. She then earned her Master’s degree in Psychology from the University of Phoenix in October 2014. 
Maria also has her National CDA from the South Florida Literacy Institute and is CPR/First Aid certified.

Maria is originally from Argentina and came to Florida with her husband Diego in 1998. An important aspect of her life is family. Together, they raise their two children and they all spoil their one-year old English sheep dog, Sawyer.