SPRING 2022
THE PRINCETON-BLAIRSTOWN CENTER: WHY WE DO WHAT WE DO, NOW MORE THAN EVER Their realities can often include negative peer pressure, damaging social media, school shootings, poverty, substandard housing, inequality in schooling, prevalence of drugs and alcohol, food insecurity, and crime - experiences that many of us never have to face. Added to these challenges are the isolation and disruption resulting from a two-year global pandemic. Across the US, more than 200,000 young people have lost a parent or caregiver to COVID, and the country has experienced dramatic increases in emergency department visits for mental health treatment. How can young people learn crucial academic material if they are depressed, angry, sad, or lashing out? All too often, they cannot. This makes the idea of emotion-based, trauma-informed SEL lessons practiced at the Princeton-Blairstown Center (PBC) so much more important than ever before. A Summer Bridge participant shows off a poster declaring an important message: “Be Who You Are For Your Prideee!”
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ver the past year, Social Emotional Learning (SEL) has come under fire, with some parents and community leaders stating that “emotion-related” lessons should be taught at home, and schools should focus on core subjects only. Yet today, more than ever, acquiring skills like self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and the capacity for responsible decisionmaking is critically important for the young people from historically marginalized communities that you help us serve. These are not “nice-to-have skills” but are essential to help propel a young person on a path to self-reliance and success.
PBC is grateful to be part of the solution to the growing mental health crisis that young people face. Not only does our pristine 268-acre campus allow young people to de-stress, but our intentional focus is rooted and centered in SEL to ensure that young people are better able to identify, understand, and manage their emotions; build deeper connections with their schoolmates; and practice making responsible decisions. Learning rooted in SEL helps young people build the self-confidence to make positive changes in their lives that could have life-long implications. Our carefully trained facilitators utilize universal SEL debrief questions that make every problem-solving initiative, adventure course, and ropes course activity a true learning process that helps young people unpack their social-
emotional skills. Additionally, our outcomes measurement tools document the efficacy of our programs through an evidence-based assessment. In addition to these crucial social-emotional and mental health benefits that PBC provides, a Stanford University study found that students experienced a 90% increase in skills of all kinds (SEL and academic) after outdoor education opportunities. For many students, a trip to Blairstown is often their first outdoor experience in a rural setting and ignites a passion for learning that can last a lifetime. For some, it’s their first time understanding that learning is fun. In addition, outdoor education at PBC serves as an “equalizer” for students who are struggling to learn in more traditional environments but who excel in hands-on learning. As we open our cabin doors for the first time in more than two years, we know we will help young people struggling to connect and learn. Our programs are provided free or at a reduced cost for young people from historically marginalized communities, and we expect to serve thousands of young people and chaperones in 2022. You can make that happen! If you can, please consider a more generous gift to help us support students’ mental health needs through our awardwinning, trauma-informed SEL programs. Together we can provide much needed support to students during some of the most challenging times they have ever experienced. With gratitude, Claudia Franco Kelly Board Chair
Pam Gregory President & CEO
Bouncing Back
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hat does PBC have to offer a varsity basketball team? Quite a lot, in fact!
In November, 2021, the Patrick School’s Boys’ Varsity Basketball Team visited PBC for the first time with the goal of becoming a more unified, cohesive team. The trip was arranged by Dr. Mary Jo McKinley, the current principal of the Patrick School, in conjunction with the PBC program team. To come together as a team is a challenge under normal circumstances. Over the past two years of pandemic living, it was even more difficult for team members to feel connected, unified, and confident. Catastrophic damage to their school building from the remnants of Hurricane Ida displaced them again and led to further feelings of disconnection. The team worked to overcome those challenges during a day full of team-building activities at PBC’s beautiful campus. The boys participated in the Sherpa Walk and Blue Trail/Bass Lake Hike, and worked together to successfully complete both lowand high rope elements. The day brought joy and excitement to the players. Dr. McKinley said it was amazing to watch the “interactions, the way they worked together, how they responded to leaders, and how the leaders responded.”
PBC offered The Patrick School’s boys’ basketball team a chance to stregthen bonds between players with a unique, shared experience.
The Captain of the Boys’ Varsity Basketball Team added, “What a great time today hanging and bonding with the guys experiencing some new stuff and also, some of us fought fears that we have. I like that we were able to get out for hours and just laugh, chill, eat, play games, and explore the wilderness. What a good day, guys!” By facing their fears, the boys were able to build stronger relationships and come together as a team. The team went on to have a winning season! Their shared experience at PBC established the foundation for a great season, and for seasons to come.
2022 Links to Youth Golf Outing Friday, September 16 Fox Hollow Golf Club Branchburg, NJ https://princetonblairstown.org/ golf-outing 2
The Patrick School’s boys’ basketball team enjoyed a day of team-building activities at PBC.
Build a Bridge to Summer Learning
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s a way to raise awareness and funds for the Summer Bridge Program, PBC is launching its first peer-to-peer fundraising effort, the Build a Bridge to Summer Learning campaign. Due to ongoing concerns regarding COVID-19, we have not been able to hold our annual Soirée Under the Stars event, and this campaign will help to engage volunteers and donors with PBC while supporting our award-winning Summer Bridge Program. With teams for Board/Advisory Council, Staff, and Former Staff, participants are asked to invite friends, family, and colleagues to join them in making a gift to Build a Bridge to Summer Learning. Our trauma-informed social-emotional learning (SEL) lessons taught by PBC are more important than ever! Summer Bridge is PBC’s award-winning leadership and academic enrichment program designed to serve young people from historically marginalized communities, free of charge. Summer Bridge provides access and equity to transformative outdoor experiences and helps students: • Lessen summer learning loss; • Build critical 21st Century skills like cooperation, communication, creativity, and critical thinking; and • Develop climate and culture by forming positive, supportive relationships with peers and adults. Your support to Build a Bridge to Summer Learning will provide 300 students from Trenton and Newark with the evidence-based Summer Bridge Program to provide daily academic enrichment and SEL lessons to build the self-confidence students need to make positive changes in their lives.
Sponsorship Levels include: $2,500 – support one group of students from Trenton and Newark for one day at Summer Bridge, providing three hours of academic enrichment, SEL lessons and activities, nutritious snacks and lunch, and safe, outdoor activities with their peers. $1,000 – provide one week of the award-winning Summer Bridge Program for two students from Trenton and Newark. $750 – support seven students from Trenton and Newark for one day of the Summer Bridge Program. $500 – provide one week of Summer Bridge for one student from Trenton or Newark. $250 – support two students from Trenton and Newark for one day of Summer Bridge. Other gift levels include: $100 – Books for students from Trenton and Newark to use during Summer Bridge and take home with them $60 – Garden plants/supplies $25 – STEM supplies Scan the QR code with your phone’s camera to go to the site or go to https://bit.ly/ PBCBuildABridge to learn more about how you can help Build a Bridge to Summer Learning.
Summer Bridge participants all geared up for adventure!
Princeton Reunions 2022 The Princeton-Blairstown Center is happy to announce that our Reunions Brunch will be resuming this year! Reunions Brunch: Saturday, May 21 10 a.m. - 12 noon Frist Campus Center, Multipurpose Room - Room C
Pulkit Shah Elected to Board of Trustees PBC recently welcomed Plainsboro resident Pulkit Shah to its Board of Trustees. Pulkit has spent his professional career working in the financial sector in various industries, including banking, media, and technology, and currently serves as the Director of OkCupid, part of Match Group. Pulkit has also worked for ESPN, Inc., and the Credit Suisse Group in financial and leadership positions. Raised in Bucks County, PA, Pulkit received a Bachelor of Science in Finance with a minor in Economics from Pennsylvania State University’s Smeal College of Business. After graduating from Penn State, Pulkit moved to NYC where he worked in banking for a few years before transitioning to roles in media and technology. In addition to his new Board position at PBC, Pulkit and his wife Ajanta are the parents of two children. 3
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Danielson Lodge & New Lakeside Wash House Initiative
or more than 80 years, Danielson Lodge – formerly known as the Headquarters (HQ) Building and renamed in memory of longtime PBC champion and its first Executive Director John Danielson ’58 – has been an integral part of PBC’s Blairstown Campus. In 2020, PBC opened the newly renovated Danielson Lodge, featuring a more flexible space and environmentally sustainable systems to ensure the building’s use long into the future. Danielson Lodge provides modern, new, convenient lodging with indoor bathrooms for groups of up to 20 people interested in winter programming. A sustainability highlight of the project is the geothermal system that uses water from Bass Lake to maintain a constant interior temperature, making it more efficient for the heating and cooling of the building. Families who stayed in Danielson for Family Camp were thrilled with the changes, and students in the future will benefit from the consistent temperature when the building serves as a cooling station in the summer and a warming location in the winter.
Guests staying at Danielson Lodge will be comfortable in the Great Room no matter the season due to its geothermal heating and cooling system. LEAD DONORS The Danielson Family Mr. Everard Pinneo Mr. & Mrs. Bruce Petersen and The Petersen Family Charitable Fund Mr. & Mrs. Christopher Van Buren
Another important component of the initiative was the 2021-2022 construction of a new wash house on the east side of Bass Lake. As occupancy at Blairstown increased exponentially in the five years before the SUPPORTERS COVID pandemic, more and more regular Mr. & Mrs. Mark Antin programming has been taking place on Rev. Dr. Alison Boden & Rev. Walter Kerbel that side of the lake. Existing facilities were Peggy & Russell DaSilva inadequate, especially with the increased usage Dell Corporation of a renovated Twins Lodge. E. J. Grassmann Trust Ms. Jane Fremon The new Lakeside Wash House includes five Pam Gregory & David Palladino toilets, six showers, and six sinks, as well as Johnson & Johnson Consumer Products, Inc. two water bottle filling stations. Great efforts Praveena Joseph-de Saram & were made to choose sustainable materials Vijay Krishnamurthy and environmentally friendly fixtures such as Angela & Shawn Maxam energy efficient lighting, low-flow showers, on Rev. David McAlpin and The McAlpin Fund of demand water heaters, split unit heating, and the Princeton Area Community Foundation cement board construction. Mr. & Mrs. Christopher Moser Ms. Meredith Murray A key component of these projects was John & Margaret Post Foundation launching a fundraising initiative for the Suman Rao & Kaushik Arunagiri construction. Susan Danielson, John’s daughter Ms. Karen Richardson and a PBC Board member, Ev Pinneo ’48, and Mr. & Mrs. Derek Simpkins Chris Van Buren ’84 have served as the coDr. Sarah Tantillo chairs for the initiative and led the efforts to Meryl Kessler & Scott Oran and raise more than $275,000 in gifts and pledges The Oran Kessler Family Charitable Fund from individuals and foundations. We are so Union Foundation grateful for the many people who went above Mr. & Mrs. Warren Stock and and beyond to support this effort! The Warren & Andrea Stock Family Fund of the Princeton Area Community Foundation Mr. & Mrs. Peter Wendell and The Wendell Family Foundation
Danielson Lodge also provides space to store and organize equipment used in waterfront programming.
The new Lakeside Wash House on the east side of Bass Lake is ready for use this upcoming season.
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Where Are They Now: Dave Barbier
n recent issues of this Outlook newsletter, we have shared updates about former PBC staff and how their time in Blairstown influenced where they are today. This time, we feature Dave Barbier, a former seasonal and year-round staff member who served as a Co-Director of the Center. Since leaving PBC in 2013, Dave has been the Sustainability Coordinator at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. If you would like to share your story and possibly be featured in a future issue, please contact Meredith Murray at mmurray@princetonblairstown.org. How did you first learn about PBC? I was finishing my Master’s degree in environmental education when I first heard about an opportunity at PBC. My Master’s program had a strong experiential component to the curriculum, so my background was a perfect fit for my first role as an Environmental Education Specialist.
Cathy and Dave Barbier
Dave Barbier served as a waiter at the surprise in-water café during a 2007 staff training on the Delaware River. When staff canoed around the corner, they were greeted by a “breakfast café” that had been set up by Dave and other PBC staff leaders. Staff could paddle right up to the café to eat breakfast. What jobs did you hold in Blairstown What challenges did you face? and when did you work for PBC? Many. Learning how to lead without immediate Summer 2003 – Environmental Education oversight was tough, as was taking feedback Specialist, January 2004-March 2013 – Resi- and applying it. dential Experiential Education Facilitator (REEF), Resource Coordinator, and Site Co- How did your time at PBC impact how Director of Resources. you saw the world as a young person? It opened my eyes to other realities in What did you expect the job to be like our country and made me a much more and how did it match your expectations? empathetic person regarding our society’s I really had no idea what to expect from the social issues. It changed my worldview forever first job, but I knew I was going to learn a lot and and for the better. My time at PBC set me up I did. And it fit my needs perfectly at the time. to be more open to the issues of diversity, What changed things dramatically was when equity, and inclusion and social justice. Those an expedition leader quit two days before learnings were profound. an expedition, and I had to take on that job. The 5–6-day trip was part of the High Quest In what way did your time at PBC program and it put students in emotional and influence your future career choices? physical discomfort and perceived risk, even It helped me figure out that I wanted to though they were perfectly safe. But, it helped continue to work in higher education with them grow. One of the activities we did was a college students because they are generally “moment of silence” where students had to open and willing to learn but they’re also still isolate in silence for up to 45 minutes; one of a little cocky and ready to challenge the status the highlights of that was when a boy came up quo. I also realized I wanted to prioritize to me afterward and told me he learned that sustainability in my career. he could “just be” without any distractions. Do you have a story or memory to What was a highlight of your time at share? PBC? Yes, hundreds! But easily and most importantly There are too many to count, but definitely was meeting my wife, Cathy, during that first the relationships. I am still friends with former summer. She was a Program Coordinator participants and former staff, so it’s had a during my first summer and we met during lasting impact. staff training. We stayed in touch after that summer and became even closer when I came back to Blairstown that winter. 5
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Princeton Office President & CEO Pam Gregory Director of Finance & Administration Nicole Nilsson Director of Institutional Advancement & External Affairs 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 of Operations & Staff Development Maren Morsch Food Services Manager Robert Buarotti Operations Manager Pat Karl Program Managers Ron Franco (Sr. Program Manager) Holly Lynn Handy Pierre Facilitators Tabassum Alam (Sr. Facilitator) Malik Church James Frye Jacob Martinez Alicia Navarrete 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 Trustees Christina Bailey Russell DaSilva, Esq. ’76 Susan G. Danielson, Psy.D Bruce A. Ellsworth, Ph.D. Peter 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, Ed.M. ’93 Donald R. Seitz, MBA ’79 Pulkit Shah Aline Silva Derek Simpkins Sarah Tantillo, Ed.D ’87 Advisory Council Eleazar Adjehoun Minda A. Alena Mark L. Antin, Esq. Jon Dec ’13
Barbara DiCostanzo Michael S. Fletcher II ’03 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 MBA ’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 Honorary Trustees Janet Smith Dickerson, M.Ed. Joan Doig Jane Fremon ’75 Rev. David H. McAlpin, Jr. ’50 Everard K. Pinneo ’48 Dr. Robert J. Rivers, Jr. ’53 Peter T. Smith C. Andre Washington, Esq. ‘74 President & CEO Pam Gregory