Fall 2021
SUMMER BRIDGE: ON THE ROAD AND ON CAMPUS
Participants spend time canoeing and learning together on Bass Lake during a beautiful Friday session of our 2021 Summer Bridge Program.
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ecause of COVID-19, the PrincetonBlairstown Center’s (PBC) Program team was once again called upon to reimagine the Center’s award-winning Summer Bridge Program. Since most of the students PBC serves were not yet eligible for vaccinations and our cabins are small with limited ventilation, our Board and staff reached the difficult decision that we could not responsibly hold Summer Bridge at our Blairstown Campus. Instead, PBC created a hybrid version, and our summer staff took Summer Bridge directly to our students’ communities – to parks and school yards in Newark and Trenton, with great success.
During the 2020-2021 school year, both Trenton and Newark Public School students spent almost the entire time learning remotely. When school reopened in Newark in April and in
Trenton in May of 2021, less than 40% of students returned to the classroom. Aware of the projected negative effects on students’ overall learning due to COVID-19 school disruptions, our team created a program that was laser focused on socialemotional learning through portable initiatives that encouraged interpersonal student interactions, communication, problem-solving, and teamwork skills. To help address the learning shortfall and traumas that so many young people have experienced, Dr. Mark DeBiasse, our Director of Programs, revised the Summer Bridge academic curriculum to include hands-on STEM and literacy instruction with a food and social justice theme, that could be taught in school yards and parks rather than at our Blairstown Campus. Students analyzed and tested soil and water samples from their own communities and compared the results with samples from
Blairstown. For many, it had been a long time since they “played” in the dirt, and it was a rewarding experience. They also read the book Seedfolks and focused on character analysis, Venn diagrams, food justice, and environmental advocacy. While logistically the hybrid program was very challenging, our Summer Bridge leaders Holly Lynn and Handy Pierre rose to the occasion and each day organized and expertly packed two vehicles with food, program and first aid supplies, and summer staff. During Newark-based weeks, nine staff members left our Blairstown Campus at 7 a.m. to drive an hour and a half to various outdoor sites, unpack, set up supplies, and deliver exceptional, enriching programming to our students, returning to Blairstown each evening to restock and prepare for the next day. During Trenton-based weeks, Christina Seix Academy, a Summer Bridge (Continues on Page 3)
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New PBC Board Chair Takes Office
BC is proud to welcome Claudia Franco Kelly as the organization’s new Board Chair. She succeeds outgoing Chair, Dr. Sarah Tantillo, who served in the role since 2016. Claudia brings a broad array of skills to the role including governance, risk management, process improvements, compliance, and business continuity, as well as a passion for making a difference in the lives of young people from historically marginalized communities.
risk management and business continuity expertise are particularly important as PBC continues to reinvent and reimagine itself in a post-pandemic world.” At its June meeting, the Board of Trustees and invited guests engaged in a Gratitude Circle to celebrate Sarah Tantillo’s myriad contributions and “energy, smarts, and leadership” throughout her five and a half years as Board Chair. She was presented with a hand-crafted glass bowl created especially for her by GlassRoots, a nonprofit that helps build the creative and economic vitality of greater Newark with a focus on serving young artists in the city.
A resident of Princeton, New Jersey, Claudia serves as a Director of The Alternative Board of Central New Jersey where she provides entrepreneurs with a monthly advisory board, oneon-one business coaching, and workshops to help them grow their businesses. Before that, she spent more than 35 years in progressively responsible roles at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, with a culminating role as Deputy Chief Operating Officer in the Supervision Group.
Sarah’s peers described her as an excellent collaborator and visionary leader who brought her knowledge of Blairstown and quality experiential education to the table to “lead us into new programs which have proven successful, won us awards, and increased the number of lives Sarah Tantillo (left) will be succeeded by Claudia Franco Kelly as PBC Board Chair. we have changed for the better.” Claudia is a graduate of NonProfit Former Board Chair Mark Antin Connect’s Board Leadership Program her Bachelor of Science in Business and noted, “as a partner with PBC’s President and joined the PBC Board in 2018. She Accounting and her Master of Business & CEO, Sarah created and fostered a spent a year as Chair of the Governance Administration from Pace University. living, changing, improving, and successful Committee and as a member of the experiential education opportunity for Executive Committee. She also currently Pam Gregory, President & CEO, said “PBC young people and developed a collaborative serves as a member of the Board of is so fortunate to have Claudia’s leadership and productive administrative and program Trustees at HomeFront and as an Advisory during this time of uncertainty due to staff. We are, in part due to Sarah's time as Board Member of the MBA Program at The the global pandemic’s ongoing impact Board Chair, a better organization than we College of New Jersey. Claudia received on nonprofits and the way we work. Her have ever been.”
PBC Elects New Trustee PBC recently welcomed Peter A. Gasparro of Lambertville, New Jersey, to its Board of Trustees. Peter is the Chief Development Officer for Barclays US Consumer Bank where he builds strategic partnerships that result in growth within the company. Prior to Barclays, Peter spent more than 20 years at JP Morgan Chase & Co. where he held a wide range of leadership positions and served as Co-Chair of the Diversity & Inclusion Council. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Marketing and a Master of Arts in Corporate Communications from Seton Hall University. In addition to his new Board position at PBC, Peter and his wife Paula are the parents of four children. He has served as President of the West Amwell School Board and as a member of the South Hunterdon Regional School Board. 2
Summer Bridge: On the Road and On Campus (continued) friends as important to them. Teachers and chaperones also reported that over the week they saw students: • Start to bond after days of uncertainty • Start communicating better • Learn that it is okay to lean on others when they need help • Change in positive ways • Have more respect for nature • Learn to respect each other more
Summer Bridge students used all their senses to explore vegetables and herbs together in the PBC garden.
partner, graciously agreed to host our staff on their campus from Sunday to Thursday. Each Friday, Summer Bridge partners from both Newark and Trenton brought their students to Blairstown for a day-long visit that included teamwork on our adventure course, canoeing and kayaking, a visit to the garden, and a barbecue. During the summer, PBC was pleased to host visitors from the National Summer Learning Association, NJ Advance Media, and the Wallace Foundation, who came
to observe this best-in-class program that both supports students’ social-emotional needs and provides high-quality academic enrichment to so many students from historically marginalized communities hard hit by the pandemic.
Revenue from our spring and fall programs provide a big slice of the financial pie that keeps PBC going. While our Summer Bridge Program was well-attended and tremendously successful, the continuing pandemic forced attendance at our spring and fall seasons to be lighter than we would have hoped, as many school districts cancelled offsite trips. If you can, please consider a more generous gift during these challenging times. Our ability to provide innovative programming that supports the needs of our students is only possible because of the generosity of our loyal donors and friends like you.
When asked what they found most valuable about this year’s Summer Bridge Program, students enthusiastically With gratitude, identified communication, patience, gardening, teamwork, learning about air Claudia Franco Kelly pollution, having fun, and making new Board Chair
Pam Gregory President & CEO
Links to Youth Golf Outing Raises More Than $79,000 On Friday, October 8th, PBC held its sixth annual Links to Youth Golf Outing at the Fox Hollow Golf Club in Branchburg, NJ. A beautiful fall day drew 88 golfers and grossed more than $79,000, which will support PBC’s award-winning Summer Bridge Program. In addition to the golfers who joined us for the day, many others supported through volunteering for the event or by bidding for items in the online silent auction. PBC board members were also tremendous assets, stepping up to register or recruit foursomes and solicit auction prizes and sponsorships. Their efforts helped us meet both the attendance and event revenue goals! We also would like to thank the multitude of generous Links to Youth sponsors:
Mawr Trust Company; Joseph Burkhard and Strategic Wealth Group Insurance and Investments; Peggy & Russell DaSilva, Esq.; Geeta Govindarajoo & Bruce Ellsworth; Pam Gregory & Dave Palladino; Thomas Field and Tomar Industries; Inside Edge Consulting Group, Inc.; Lear & Pannepacker, LLP; Praveena Joseph-de Saram & Vijay Krishnamurthy; New Jersey Institute of Technology - Martin Tuchman School of Management; Vishal Moni & Shankar Iyer; Christopher Moser; NRG Energy; Payday LLC; PBC Senior Leadership Team; Kathy & Bruce Petersen; Pinneo Construction; Rotary Club of Princeton Corridor; Suman Rao & Kaushik Arunagiri; Karen Richardson; Yvette Saeko Lanneaux, Esq. & Mr. Michael Nissan, Esq.; Pam & Derek Simpkins; Tamara Simpkins Franklin; Dr. Sarah Tantillo; and Robin & Christopher Van Buren.
PBC Trustee and Links to Youth Co-Chair Derek Simpkins (left), Mike Dawson, and Nichole Drakeford.
event is due in large part to the hard work of the Links to Youth co-chairs, Heather Reilly and Derek Simpkins, and Auction Chair Praveena Joseph-de Saram.Their time, AMSkier Insurance; Sarah & Mark Antin; energy, and efforts on behalf of PBC are Blue Ridge Lumber Company; Rev. Dr. Alison Boden & Rev. Walter Kerbel; Bryn We also recognize that the success of this tremendously appreciated. Thank you! 3
Where Are They Now? Deb Crockett and Bill Conover In recent issues of this Outlook newsletter, we have shared updates about former PBC staff and how their time in Blairstown influenced who they are today. This time, we feature Deb Crockett and Bill Conover, a husband-and-wife team who served together as codirectors at PBC in 1992. Deb Crockett How did you first learn about Princeton-Blairstown Center? Actually, my grandfather worked there in the 1930s! What did you expect the job to be like? Were there challenges? I expected there would be challenging behaviors, and yes, there were! These came with the biggest opportunities for growth and learning for me and for the youth. I worked with one young person who was absolutely terrified of new situations. I remember him standing up in the canoe shouting, “I’m going to die!” I needed to figure out how to get him to sit down, so our boat wouldn’t capsize. I supported that same young man as he rappelled over a cliff; I remember now how exhilarated he felt afterwards, as he had found in himself the resilience, adaptability, and resources to stay calm and navigate something terrifying. In parallel, I found in myself the capacity to listen deeply to another and support them through crisis, to connect across our very different lived experiences, and to problem-solve. This cycle of reflective learning, and translation into action is the heart of experiential education, and I loved it! How did your time at PBC impact how you saw the world as a young person? Now? My time at Blairstown was an important step in learning about poverty, race, and my own privilege as a highly educated white woman. Relationships with campers were some of my first with people from such vastly different backgrounds than my own, and I remain grateful to the youth who taught me about their lives and challenges, and who shared laughter, wonder, and their courage to step out of the city into the woods. Some of Blairstown’s key teachings about personal agency and community accountability have served as foundational tenets on my anti-racism journey.
Bill and Deb in 1989.
Jennie Curtis’s skillful coaching, we ended up changing our model significantly to minimize friction. I reflect on that experience as a touchstone for me in professional challenges ever since, reminding me to listen deeply to the needs of the community, think outside the box, and be ready to pivot to meet changing circumstances. Bill Conover What was your job in Blairstown? I started in 1988 as a summer camp counselor with the Horizon program – an 18-day experience for older kids. I did the same Did your time at PBC influence your career choices? thing in 1989, which was Deb’s first summer, and stayed on to I loved so many aspects of work at Blairstown: connecting be a fall instructor for school groups. In 1990 I was the lead with community through the land; teaching and facilitating in counselor, skipped 1991 (the summer we got married), and coan experiential setting; and head, heart, and hands learning. This directed with Deb in 1992. has led me to work in environmental education and sustainable agriculture settings. I’m now the Executive Director of Garden- How did the job match your expectations? Raised Bounty (GRuB), a nonprofit in Olympia, WA that works Loved, loved, loved that first summer. It was perhaps more at the intersection of community, food, and people. Although stressful than I’d expected, due to emotional and behavioral our setting is different, the fundamentals are very similar to conflicts and crises. However, I gradually realized how Blairstown: meaningful and challenging activity on the land; transformational PBC’s educational model was. I think it was Jennie Curtis who really set us up with a model for using the small fostering individual and community agency; and resilience. group as a setting for empowering young people through choice, One more reflection: As camp director at a young age, I was accountability, cooperation, and success in outdoor challenges. entrusted with responsibility that boosted my own confidence And there was always a hefty dose of kindness, respect and love and helped me hone my skills as a leader, manager, and mentor. shared exuberantly among counselors and campers! During that summer, tensions rose daily [between groups]. With (Continues on Page 5) 4
Where Are They Now? (continued) What was a highlight of your time at PBC? That summer of co-directing with Deb. Only a couple years before, we’d been counselors, happily taking guidance from more experienced leadership. That summer – with the amazing mentorship of Jennie Curtis and the always goodhumored and on-the-spot Randy Stamp – we hired, trained, mentored, and built a staff that served hundreds of kids in safe and nurturing adventure and fun. What challenges did you face? I look back and see so many of our campers were working through trauma. I hope and believe that many of those young people experienced some healing and deep affirmation at PBC. The other big challenge for me, in retrospect, was my unacknowledged white privilege and wealth (so many of the staff, including all the leadership, were white middle class college students). While I am very proud of the adventure, empowerment, and fun we shared with our largely BIPOC campers, I’m sure we missed countless opportunities to take that empowerment
How did your time at PBC impact how you saw the world, then or now? I wrote my seminary Masters thesis in 1993 out of my experience at PBC. It was a liberation theology rooted in the power, courage, and love I witnessed among the children at PBC. In them I saw the liberating power of “the Jesus who comes to set captives free and preach good news to the poor.” My summers at PBC were a foundational experience of the healing power of affirming relationships and true group belonging.
Bill and Deb in 2021 with their dog, Lucy.
much further. I wish we’d truly been about the work of dismantling white supremacy in our organization, but I am pleased to see that PBC has advanced far beyond where we were.
Did PBC influence your career? I can trace that thread through each of my three career stages: Christian youth ministry, interfaith college chaplaincy, and (now as a Zen Buddhist) end-of-life hospice chaplaincy. In all of it, small group facilitation and individual active listening have been at the core of my work. Thank you, PBC! If you would like to share your story and possibly be featured in a future issue, please contact Meredith Murray at mmurray@ princetonblairstown.org.
Blairstown Program Staff Updates There are some new faces on the year- serving as a Youth Development Peace round team in Blairstown. Corps Volunteer in Ukraine. She is also a certified Red Cross Lifeguard and holds Holly Lynn is CPR/AED and First Aid certification. the newest Program Maren Morsch may be a new member of Manager the Blairstown staff, but she has served to join the as the PBC Communications and Special Blairstown Events Manager in the Princeton office since staff. Holly February 2019. She is transitioning to the arrived in Blairstown Assistant Director of Training May and and Operations role. Her experience immediately working with young people in the outdoors Holly Lynn began to began with the National Park Service, where organize and oversee this year’s re-imagined she worked for five years as an interpretive hybrid Summer Bridge model. She holds a ranger and also volunteered for collatoral Bachelor of Arts in Leadership Studies and public safety duties, including first aid and Political Science from St. Norbert College wildland and structural firefighting. She also and recently graduated from the University spent five years with the NYC Department of Pennsylvania with a Master of Arts in of Parks and Recreation as an environmental Nonprofit Leadership. Prior to joining educator. In that role, she created curricula, PBC, Holly worked with a variety of youth developed public programs, helped design development organizations, most recently and teach the summer day camp, and
Maren Morsch
assisted with publications and events for the Staten Island Greenbelt. Maren is excited for her new role, and shared that she is “looking forward to working more closely with the young people we serve and advancing the PBC mission as part of the Program team.” She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Communications and Environmental Studies from The College of New Jersey and a Master of Public Administration from New York University. 5
Princeton-Blairstown Center 13 Roszel Road, Suite B109* Princeton, NJ 08540 (609) 921-0070 www.princetonblairstown.org *Please note our new suite number.
Princeton Office President & CEO Pam Gregory Director of Finance & Administration Nicole Nilsson Director of Development & Communications Meredith Murray Communications & Special Events Manager Jennifer Fisher Accounting Assistant Gina Grieco (part-time) Operations Assistant Anna Kats (part-time) Blairstown Campus Director of Programs Mark DeBiasse, D. Litt. Assistant Director Maren Morsch, MPA Food Services Manager Robert Buarotti Operations Manager Pat Karl Program Managers Ron Franco (Senior PM) Holly Lynn Senior Facilitators Tabassum Alam Handy Pierre Facilities Director Jody Zengulis Facilities Assistants Jacob Bruch John Haney
BOARD OF TRUSTEES Chair Claudia Franco Kelly, MBA Vice Chair Shawn Maxam, MSW Secretary Rev. Alison Boden, Ph.D. Treasurer Warren M. Stock, MBA
Minda A. Alena Mark L. Antin, Esq. Jon Dec ’13 Jason K. Griffiths ’97 Sari Chang Guthrie, R.A. ’84 Rochelle R. Hendricks Kevin C. Hudson ’97 James B. Huffman, P.E. ’77 Al Kaemmerlen ’62 Meryl Kessler, Esq. ’84 Yvette Saeko Lanneaux, Esq. ’88 Lauren Meehan ’08 Richard Ober, Esq. ’65 Sally Jane Ruybalid ’22 Pamela L. Simpkins, MBA Seema Thomas *08 Christopher Van Buren, CFA ’84 Pam Walker Will Wild ’13
Trustees Christina Bailey Russell DaSilva, Esq. ’76 Susan G. Danielson, Psy.D Bruce A. Ellsworth, Ph.D. Peter A. Gasparro Praveena Joseph-de Saram *10 Will Miller Andrew Morris, MBA Christopher S. Moser Jessica Perry Bruce Petersen ’79 Suman Rao Heather E. Reilly Karen Richardson Donald R. Seitz, MBA ’79 Aline Silva Derek Simpkins Sarah Tantillo, Ed.D. ’87
Honorary Trustees Janet Smith Dickerson Joan Doig Jane Fremon ’75 Rev. David H. McAlpin, Jr. ’50 Everard K. Pinneo ’48 Dr. Robert J. Rivers, Jr. ’53 Peter T. Smith
Advisory Council Eleazar Adjehoun
President & CEO Pam Gregory
WORKPLACE GIVING Does Your Employer Participate in the United Way Employee Giving Campaign? Did you know that you can designate the Princeton-Blairstown Center to receive your gift? Each year, PBC receives hundreds of dollars from donors who write in the Princeton-Blairstown Center to be the recipient of their United Way giving. If you participate in this campaign at your workplace, please consider writing in the Princeton-Blairstown Center. Do You Work for the State of New Jersey? PBC participates in the New Jersey Employee Charitable Campaign (NJECC) and is eligible to receive your contributions made through your payroll deduction.Your gift comes directly out of your paycheck and the NJECC sends that gift directly to PBC. The NJECC is going on now… sign up today to make your gift to PBC! Does Your Employer Offer Charitable Gift Matching? Many employers offer an incentive for their employees to be philanthropic by matching employee gifts 1:1, sometimes even 3:1! That means your gift can make double, triple, or quadruple the impact! Please ask your human resources department to learn if that is a benefit your employer offers.