Draft:The Princeton-Blairstown Center

The Princeton-Blairstown Center is an independent, 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that offers adventure-based, outdoor education to young people from historically marginalized communities, primarily Trenton, New Jersey, Newark, New Jersey, and Camden, New Jersey. The organization was among the first camps in the country to racially integrate and now serves nearly 6,000 youth and chaperones each year.

Location
The Blairstown campus is nestled on 268 acres of wilderness in Hardwick Township, New Jersey, approximately 3.5 miles north of Blairstown, New Jersey between the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area and Newton, New Jersey. The Princeton-Blairstown Center administrative offices are located in Princeton, New Jersey.

History
The Princeton-Blairstown Center evolved from the Princeton Summer Camp, which was founded by Princeton University undergraduates and alumni in 1908. The organization’s formation coincided with the emergence of a camping movement across the country that was intended to positively influence the character of young boys. The primary goal of the Princeton Summer Camp – to enrich the lives of disadvantaged inner-city children through healthy, character-building camping experiences – still rings true at the modern-day Princeton-Blairstown Center.

The Blairstown campus in Hardwick was purchased by Princeton University undergraduates in 1930. The original site was a hunting and fishing camp on 105 acres of beautiful timberland at Bass Lake with a picturesque waterfall and rocky gorge. Students and alumni continued to operate the camp until the 1970s. The Blairstown campus also hosted the Princeton University football team for preseason training from 1949 to 1972.

Year-round “experiential education” was first offered in 1973 to provide a deeper, richer experience for program participants. Approximately 2,300 campers participated in year-round programs, many through public and independent schools, in 1973. In 1975, the Princeton Summer Camp became the Princeton Education Center at Blairstown to more effectively pursue the organization’s educational and urban outreach goals. The name of the organization was officially changed to the Princeton-Blairstown Center in 1991.

In 2013, the Princeton-Blairstown Center ended its 104-year financial and administrative ties with Princeton University. Although the Center is no longer affiliated with the University, students continue to assist Princeton-Blairstown Center with summer programs in Blairstown, and Blairstown hosts more than 100 first-year students annually through Princeton University’s Community Action program.

Racial Integration
At the onset of World War II, Princeton Summer Camp had been in operation for decades, but Black youth were still excluded. During this time, Francis Lyons “Frank” Broderick (Princeton University Class of 1943), Princeton Summer Camp Student Director and chairman of The Daily Princetonian, led a multi-year effort to mobilize support and advocate for integrating the camp. Broderick wrote three critical editorials about Princeton University’s admissions policies, calling for the University to face “the conflict between their principles and their practice.” A debate held in October of 1943 asked, “Should Negroes be admitted to Princeton?” Broderick and classmate C. Powell Whitehead argued that they should, while Lemuel C. Hutchins, President of the Princeton Senate, argued that they should not.

The Princeton Summer Camp closed in 1941 due to World War II and reopened in 1946 under Broderick’s leadership. He returned as Student Director as a graduate student, advocating for the integration of the program. A group of eight Black youths were the first students to participate in the racially integrated program. This paved the way for changes to the school’s admissions policies that would allow racial integration at Princeton University.

In honor of Broderick’s efforts, the Princeton-Blairstown Center presents the annual Frank Broderick Award to "an individual who demonstrates a deep commitment to social justice, compassion, and selflessness.”

Programs
The Princeton-Blairstown Center offers hands-on, outdoor programs that are designed to remove distractions from everyday environments, nurture social-emotional skills, promote engagement in self-discovery, increase environmental stewardship, and empower youth to drive positive change in their communities and around the world. These free programs are offered to young people from historically marginalized communities.

Summer Bridge Program
This program addresses the “summer learning gap” by building valuable skills like cooperation, communication, creativity, and critical thinking while cultivating supportive relationships. The program also includes hands-on science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) and science, technology, engineering, art, and math (STEAM) activities. Approximately 120 young people and chaperones from various Trenton organizations participated in the Summer Bridge program in 2017, spending one week learning new skills and celebrating accomplishments.

Several former Princeton-Blairstown Center student facilitators have contributed articles to Camping Magazine to share their experiences with the award-winning Summer Bridge program. Each of these college students discussed the deeper meaning of the Princeton-Blairstown Center slogan, “A Place to Grow.”


 * “Within the short span of a week, I observed growth in so many students. My time working in experiential education at the Princeton-Blairstown Center will always be with me – not only because of the impact it had on the students, but because of the impact it had on me.”
 * “On the last day, I told her (camp participant) to have a nice summer and that she’d done awesome that week. She replied, ‘I’m gonna miss you.’ At that moment I definitely knew I’d made the right choice with what I wanted to do over the summer. PBC is truly a place to grow. I saw this in both the kids and in myself — and none of us will ever be the same.”
 * “We were learning together. I lost the title of 'facilitator' and became one of them, at least for those few days. We came from different places but weren't discouraged from learning from each other, setting aside preconceived stereotypes and helping to develop a cultural understanding.”

Leader-in-Training Program
As the name implies, this program is designed to help rising high school juniors and seniors build leadership skills while reducing summer learning loss, building social-emotional skills, and gaining real-world employment experience. Students must be nominated and accepted, and those who complete the program receive a $1,000 stipend.

Venture Out
This environmental education program is offered to middle school students in the Trenton Public School District. Aligned with the State of New Jersey’s science curriculum standards, Venture Out offers hands-on environmental education, social-emotional learning, and opportunities to explore STEM careers. Twenty students from Trenton’s STEMCivics Charter School participated in the Princeton-Blairstown Center’s Venture Out program to experience the eclipse on April 8, 2024 and gain a deeper understanding of this historic event from scientific and community-building perspectives. More than 300 Trenton students have participated in the Venture Out program since its inception.

Adventure Education
This adventure-based, outdoor education program, accredited by the Association of Experiential Education and the American Camp Association, employs evidence-based techniques and activities to develop leadership skills, build relationships, and facilitate collaboration. Adventure Education is held outdoors at the Blairstown campus.

Environmental Education
Fifteen environmental education programs are offered on subjects such as forest ecology, stream science, sustainability, ornithology, phenology and climate change, and geology. Programs are aligned with middle school curriculum standards and feature outdoor exploration to allow for deeper engagement with science and nature.

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Programs
This program includes workshops that explore issues such as culture, identity, and belonging to enhance social awareness and civic engagement. Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) programs are intended to help participants recognize and understand other perspectives, challenge their own views, and develop equitable solutions.

Adult Team-Building and Retreats
The Princeton-Blairstown Center offers experience-based, corporate team-building programs, adult training programs, and meeting and retreat space at the Cornwall House. The building is named after Joseph Cornwall, a 1939 Princeton University graduate who served as a trustee of the Center for 20 years, including eight years as board treasurer.

Responding to Covid
The Princeton-Blairstown Center was recognized by the Wallace Foundation for adapting its programming to help young people overcome the isolation and difficult academic environment of the pandemic, while also supporting many students who were dealing with serious traumas such as homelessness and domestic abuse. The Wallace Foundation editorial team visited the Princeton-Blairstown Center during summer of 2021 to see firsthand how campers with shared experience developed social-emotional skills in peaceful, outdoor spaces.

Recognition
The Princeton-Blairstown Center has been honored with many awards over the course of more than 100 years. Awards in recent years include:


 * New York Life Foundation Founder’s Award, 2018 (National Summer Learning Association)
 * Community Impact Award, 2017 (VolunteerConnect)
 * Harold Breene Youth Education Award, 2015 (American Camp Association New York & New Jersey)
 * Mildred Trotman Community Service Award, 2014 (Pete Young Memorial Safe Streets Weekend)