Princeton-Blairstown Center Continues Legacy Of Helping Youth Through Outdoor Education

PRINCETON, NJ — For close to 120 years, the Princeton-Blairstown Center has provided equity and access to high-quality outdoor education for young people from underserved communities.

That legacy will continue this year with the Center's many programs focused on providing adventure-based, experiential education.

The Center was started in 1908 as the Princeton Summer Camp and was run by Princeton University students and faculty. It has since evolved into an outdoor education center with a wide variety of year-round programs serving nearly 6,000 young people each year.

"As a kid myself, I was very fortunate to have a lot of access to outdoor experiences. I'm a lifelong Girl Scout. My family went camping, hiking, and canoeing, so we did a lot of outdoor things," said Vice President of External Affairs Meredith Murray. "I feel like those are things that, in the moment, I didn't think I knew how much they were shaping me, but in hindsight, I really can appreciate exactly how transformative and impactful those experiences were. And now that I've been here so long, I've been fortunate to be on our campus and watch kids who've never had these experiences get to experience them for the first time."

Among the programs at the Center is their award-winning Summer Bridge Program, which is offered at no cost to students from Trenton and Newark.

The one-week residential academic and leadership enrichment program provides two hours a day of engaging, hands-on literacy and STEM lessons while also enjoying an hour of waterfront activities (swimming/canoeing/kayaking) on their Bass Lake, and time spent on their adventure and ropes courses, building self-confidence and team dynamics.

In addition to Summer Bridge, they also offer Venture Out, a 30-hour overnight environmental education program for Trenton public middle school students, aligned to NJ State Science curriculum standards, and the Leader-in-Training (LIT) Program for rising high school juniors and seniors.

Both of these programs are also offered at no cost to students or their families, and LITs receive a $1,000 stipend at the end of their program.

Year-round, they offer adventure-based, experiential programs for young people and adults on a sliding scale, fee-for-service basis. In 2025, they served 6,000 people.

Murray said the programs are truly incredible, especially to see the kids experience the outdoors.

"This summer, we got to stand on the porch of one of our buildings with some kids from Trenton as we watched a mama bear and her four cubs frolicking along on our campus right in front of us," said Murray. "That was pretty incredible for me personally, but also just to watch the kids watch that was pretty great."

Princeton-Blairstown Center's outdoor experiential education programs incorporate social and emotional learning skills to promote community and help participants strengthen their creative problem-solving, teamwork, and leadership skills necessary for success in the 21st century.

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