The following email was received from Elena Alarcon, who spoke about the impact of New York Junior Tennis and Learning.
I am the mother of two children, Nathalie Camacho, who is 10 years old, and Kevin Camacho, who is 11 years old. They go to PS 215 in Brooklyn, and since they were in kindergarten they have been attending the NYJTL afterschool program. One is now in fourth grade, and the other is in fifth grade.
I do not know how to thank this amazing program. For our children to be healthy – physically and mentally – they need to be involved in extracurricular activities besides just attending regular school.
For our family, NYJTL has been the best program, because I have the opportunity to attend college while my children are in good hands learning really good skills, such as socializing and sports.
Without this amazing program I could not have had the chance to go to college, and my children would just stay at home playing video games and be on the computer.
They love the NYJTL program. They cry when, for any reason, I am not able to take them or when I have to pick them up early.
I hope this program will continue giving this opportunity to families like mine to have a healthy environment for our children. And I give a special thanks to Dr. Deborah Antoine.
I remember one time when I was almost crying, and begging her not to close the program in our school, and she heard me!