Princeton-Blairstown Center

Princeton-Blairstown Center offers customized experiential programming designed to strengthen community among members of your Princeton University staff, student or faculty group.  Our unique facility and flexible staff create opportunities for bonding, growth and discovery that are integral to developing strong teams.

 

Princeton-Blairstown Center can help your group:

• recognize individual and group strengths and challenges,
• build meaningful personal connections,
• strengthen communication and interpersonal skills,
• gain a greater awareness of and respect for diversity, and
• sharpen leadership skills.

          Three-line bridge                                         Evening Campfire                                     Adventure Course
                                                                                                                                                      Activity "Whale Watch"

Our facilitators have worked with a number of Princeton University groups, including Outdoor Action Frosh Trips, the Office of Religious Life, the Princeton University Preparatory Program (PUPP), the MPA and MPP students of the  Woodrow Wilson School graduate program, and the staff of the Office of Information Technology.   More recently, the Princeton University Undergraduate Student Government, Student Volunteers Council, Pace Council, and the Bridge Year Program have utilized our facility.  

Experiential education is a learning process that places participants in a unique setting with purposeful problem-solving activities that require full engagement.  Through synthesis and reflection, participants examine pre-existing behaviors in a new light and explore new found skills and strengths.

Our facilitators utilize challenge course and adventure-based programming in small groups to create opportunities for mistakes, success, cooperation, contemplation -- all to promote learning experiences that can be transferred back to the personal and academic lives of participants.

Each activity offers opportunities for participants to learn about themselves and their peers through a process of reflection called debriefing.   During this process participants learn:

• communication skills that help them share individual and group strengths and challenges,
• techniques to help them build on their strengths and improve upon their challenges,  
• strategies for applying these new skills to the next activity, and to their ‘real lives’, in school and at home.

   
   Princeton undergraduate staff                   Rappelling from the dam                      Outdoor Action participant
   taking down tents                                                                                                             on Super Zip
   

• Our Program Coordinator works with you to create a schedule that meets your goals.
• To maximize the productivity of your visit, our ratio is one facilitator to 12 participants.
• We can develop programs that span 1-10 days in length. 
          -- See Sample Schedules for 1-5 day programs (.pdf)
          -- See Sample Schedules for a  5-14 day programs (pdf)

• There are many activities available to you at PBC.
• If you are interested in utilizing our facilities for your own programming, information on our facilities for Meetings & Conferences is here
  
• See our Facilities Page for information on what PBC can offer your group.
• See our Frequently Asked Questions page for information on PBC's location and  how to make a reservation.

Challenge By Choice teaches participants appropriate risk-taking and decision-making techniques to face new challenges. PBC facilitators respect and recognize individual challenge levels, and our programs give participants the opportunity to stretch their comfort zones in a safe way with the support of their peers and our staff.

Full-Value Contracts are created by each small group with its facilitator. The contracts provide an opportunity for students to define how they want to work as a group. They help students identify the positive behaviors and skills required by the group to meet challenges successfully.  

Facilitators have the equipment, training, professional certifications, and good judgment to safely facilitate our activities. PBC facilitators are trained to assess each group’s ability so they can provide appropriate challenges to meet those needs.

           

 

Our 263-acre Blairstown property is an engaging and beautiful setting that provides a powerful escape from the distractions of our everyday lives.

Rev. Blake Altman and many of the students from Manna Christian Fellowship appreciated the “time and space Blairstown offered to reflect and rejuvenate.”

For members of the Princeton University community and groups identified in the mission statement of Princeton-Blairstown Center, our base rate is $60.00 per person, per day, which includes food, overnight accommodations, facilities, and programming.  Rates can be adjusted depending on the number of attendees and the length of programming.  Please contact Heather Haynes at hhaynes@princeton.edu to discuss the appropriate pricing for your group.

When you choose Princeton-Blairstown Center for your group's next retreat or meeting, you are directly supporting the work we do with hundreds of underserved at-risk youth every year.

 

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