2014
Emily Steinberg ’07
Emily Steinberg attended Rashi until 2005 after which her family moved to Hartford, CT. Two years later, her older sister, Becki founded RALLY as a junior in high school.
RALLY is a non-profit organization with a dual mission of teaching basic tennis skills and providing literacy enrichment to elementary school children, free of charge, in a summer camp format. The first summer, RALLY accommodated 25 children with a staff of four high school volunteers, including Emily.
Her sister acted as Director of RALLY for its first two years of operation, until she went off to college at University of Pennsylvania, at which time Emily assumed leadership until she, too, left for college at University of Michigan. Both girls continue to work closely with the current Director to plan each summer’s program including staff and camper recruitment, staff training, and curriculum development. Recently, RALLY introduced an art component into the curriculum which now includes tennis, reading, and creative writing.
In 2010, RALLY was honored as the United States Tennis Association (USTA) New England’s National Junior Tennis League of the year and in 2011, USTA National Junior Tennis League of the year.
Since its inception, the program has grown to accommodate 70 children with a staff of 21 high school volunteers. “Some of the kids at RALLY have been coming back summer after summer,” Becki says, “and it has been truly amazing to see how much their passions for tennis and reading have developed, and how they have grown to become so hard-working and independent both on and off the court.
“For the past six years, I have had the privilege of helping lead and expand RALLY and I’ve loved seeing children shaped by their camp experience each summer. My years at Rashi have similarly shaped me into the person I have become today.
“For me, Rashi was a joyful community that inspired me to learn with passion, treat others with respect, and take initiative to repair the world around me. I create a similar environment for the children at RALLY; I hope their experiences will lead them to one day give back to their communities.
“I am so grateful to Rashi for helping me to view the world through a Jewish lens and for not only teaching me that I have a responsibility to repair the world, but also empowering me to believe that I could do it.”
