Giving Kids the Advantage

New Changes in 2025

2025 has ushered in lots of new and exciting changes for our organization. There are many role changes taking place. In December, our Executive Director Amber Marino announced her departure. She will stay through Fore, Love & Money this year, then move on to her new role. At the same time, we said good bye to former Board President Margaret Malicki. We are forever grateful for Margaret's guidance and insight over the last four years. We are grateful that she is not going far and will continue to serve on our Board.

Taking Margaret's place is Jonathan Jones, who has served on the 15-LOVE board since 2016. He currently is the City of Albany’s Commissioner of Recreation, Youth and Workforce Services. Jonathan has been with the organization since 2014 implementing programs aimed to provide educational, athletic and social activities for city residents, particularly urban youth.

He holds a bachelor’s degree and a master’s in educational administration from the University at Albany. We look forward to great things to come with Jonathan as our President.

Our Healthy Living Director and former 15-LOVE Alumni Anjalee Modasra has moved on as well. She recently began a fellowship that is required to finish her graduate studies at UAlbany. We are excited to see where her dreams take her.

Program & Education Coordinator, Maggie Robinson, will take on the Healthy Living Program while continuing to help with the Excellence Program and social tennis programs at Central Park through 518 Social Tennis. She has been with 15-LOVE since the summer of 2022, initially serving as the Healthy Living and STEM Program Assistant in the summers. In August 2024, she transitioned to a full-time role as the Program and Education Coordinator.

Maggie focuses on maintaining 15-LOVE’s commitment to providing high-quality, engaging, and educational lessons for its participants.

Maggie has five years of experience working at the Albany and Schenectady Jewish Community Center’s summer camp and after-school program. She graduated from the University of New Hampshire in May 2023 with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and Marketing.

2025 Leadership Retreat

In February, some of our Excellence and College Prep participants attended our annual Leadership Retreat at Camp Fowler for 2 days "unplugged." They participated in several educational activities, including understanding the college application process, the importance of budgeting, proper table etiquette, and mock interviewing. They cooked for each other, and in their down time they played games and went snow tubing.

Winter Break Fun

During February’s Mid-Winter School Break, we had more than 30 kids in our office each day for some educational fun for 3 days. This year's theme was Sharks! On day 1, we kicked it off with a shark themed Escape room challenge and painting wooden wiggle-sharks. After having tacos for lunch, everyone worked on plans and ideas for a shark trap to help infirmed or lost sharks, etc… (sized to fit their wooden sharks).

On day 2 the kids honed their entrepreneurial skills by creating a business around their shark traps for our version of Shark Tank. They worked in groups to present their Shark Tank ideas to staff and a board member. For something different, they had breakfast for lunch. Our staff whipped up eggs, bacon, pancakes and waffles topped with fresh berries.

Day 3 began by making shark slime and creating a stop motion video. After pizza for lunch, they relaxed and watched Shark Tale while snacking on popcorn and sipping on hot cocoa. We all had a great time!