Ellen Margolin, a member of the baby boomer generation, was born to Belle and Julie Blaushield immediately following World War II.

 

Together with her brother Eddie, Ellen grew up in East New York, Brooklyn. Her family relocated to Crown Heights and eventually set down roots in Rosedale, Queens, when she was 12.

 

Life for Ellen revolved around the Rosedale Jewish Center, where her parents were active Temple members, and it was not long before Ellen became president of the USY chapter and received the temple’s outstanding youth award. She became the Junior Congregation leader and Hebrew school teacher there when she was only 18.

 

Volunteerism was Ellen’s calling and after marrying her husband, Joe, she became an officer in the temple’s Hadassah chapter and joined the Sisterhood board. She and Joe performed in the temple’s musical- theater shows, which was a highlight for them both.

 

Today, Ellen serves on the Sisterhood board at the Hewlett-East Rockaway Jewish Center (HERJC) and volunteers at the Marion and Aaron Gural JCC in Cedarhurst, which awarded her the Spirit Award. 

 

The world of academia has always attracted Ellen: she earned a BA in Early Childhood Education from Queens College; a master’s degree in Special Education from New York University; a professional diploma in Educational Administration from St. John’s University, and a Ph.D. in Educational Administration, also from NYU.

 

Ellen’s chosen career path took her to a middle school in Queens in 1967 where she advocated for students with special needs. She later moved on to become an assistant principal and fulfilled her dream of serving as an elementary school principal in Queens, a position she proudly held for 13 years. She is credited with having piloted several programs for children who are neuro-diverse during her four-decade career. Ellen’s second labor of love, right behind her full-time role as school leader, was teaching on the University level, which she has been doing for more than three decades. She is currently an associate professor in the Graduate School of Education at Touro University. 

 

In her spare time, Ellen engages in her two favorite hobbies: singing with the JCC Golden Notes Senior Choir and dancing competitively in jazz and tap with a Long Island studio, where she happily wears a tee shirt that reads, “80 years as a dancing diva.”

 

But Ellen’s proudest accomplishments are her daughter Fredda and her husband, Carlos, her son Josh and his wife, Karen, and her five beautiful granddaughters, Brooke, Julianna, Rebecca, Isabella and Olivia, all of whom are leaving their mark on the world by working toward making it a better place to live in, one day at a time.