Early Childhood Center & Second Home Daycare
The path to wisdom and wonder starts here
Meet Our Staff
Melanie Witkes
Vice President, Youth and Family Engagement
As a long-time member of the Mid-Island Y JCC, Melanie is thrilled to have the opportunity to be apart of the Early Childhood Center’s continued growth and success. Melanie will be offering new programming and opportunities while maintaining a warm and loving atmosphere for our early childhood students and campers.
Shannon Alfau
Assistant Director
Shannon has a BA in Early Childhood Education. She also has over 15 years of experience working with children from 18 months through 5th grade. She started working at the JCC in Second Home Daycare and has taught in our Pre-k program.
Jean Goldstein
Supervisor of Early Childhood and Youth Programs
Jean has been a part of the JCC family for the past 14 years. She has a BA in communications, and a CDA in Infant/Toddler Development. Both of her sons been JCC preschoolers, and are now Second-Home Daycare and Camp staff members. Jean has been one of our Early Childhood classroom teachers for the past 11 years, and has taught in every EC age group.
Rebecca Katz
Family Engagement/Enrollment Coordinator
Rebecca has an MA in Elementary Education, and holds her N-6th NYS certification. She also has over 20 years of experience working with children from birth through to high school. Rebecca is a long-standing teacher in our Early Childhood Center, and has served as an inclusion supervisor for Camp Adler for the past 7 years. She is looking forward to an exciting summer as the EC Preschool Camp Supervisor.
Ariel Nelson
Office Coordinator
Ariel graduated from Hofstra University with a Bachelor of Business Administration Degree with a concentration in Marketing and Music. She has worked with children in a variety of settings over the past 20 years, primarily in pre-schools, after school programs, and private music schools.