Summer Bridge Program
The Princeton-Blairstown Center's award-winning Summer Bridge Program is a one-week leadership and academic enrichment program that is designed to serve approximately 360 young people from historically marginalized communities, free of charge. Summer Bridge provides equitable access to transformative outdoor experiences, and helps students:
Lessen summer learning loss
Build critical 21st Century Skills like cooperation, communication, creativity, and critical-thinking
Nurture positive climate and culture by forming supportive relationships with peers and adults
Develop an increased comfort in and appreciation for nature
In 2018, the Center was awarded the NY Life Excellence in Summer Learning Award.
Our Summer Bridge Program helps students transition successfully to the next grade level by providing hands-on educational experiences and fostering essential life skills. Through outdoor adventures, mentorship, and academic support, students build resilience, leadership abilities, and social & emotional skills, setting them up for a strong start to the school year.
What Is Summer Bridge?
The Summer Bridge Program began in 2015 and is distinguished by our small group approach where students are divided into groups of 10-12 and paired with a highly-trained facilitator and a school/agency chaperone. Our intentional curriculum is infused with social & emotional learning through hands-on, experiential, and adventure-based activities over the course of five days and four nights. Daily, each group engages in:
Up to three hours of hands-on academic enrichment, including Literacy, STEM, and STEAM lessons;
An hour (T-W-Th) of waterfront activities (swimming/canoeing/kayaking);
Up to two hours of leadership, team-building, and problem-solving activities;
An hour of students’ choice recreational and STEAM activities; and
Daily restoration responsibilities (stewardship of their cabins, the dining room, and the wash houses) that are designed to teach responsibility and community.
The opening and closing evenings include campfire circles that celebrate accomplishments and focus on reflection.
Each program helps build and immerse students in school/organizational culture, creates a strong sense of teamwork and belonging, and enlarges each student's social & emotional toolbox for the new school year. Students and faculty/staff build relationships that are leveraged when they return to the classroom/agency.
Reducing Summer Learning Loss
The Center partners with schools and community-based organizations in Trenton and Newark, NJ, to address the "summer learning gap" in an innovative way that helps youth from historically marginalized communities develop academic and social & emotional skills, and strengthen their environmental awareness and stewardship at the Center’s beautiful 268-acre Blairstown Campus. For many, it is their first experience exploring a rustic setting with a lake and forest. To learn more about how PBC is tackling summer learning loss, click here.
Summer Bridge 2024 Outcomes
Student Outcomes
Following students’ completion of the Summer Bridge 2024 Program, they were asked to complete a survey to measure the percentage of students who perceived themselves to have gained strength in the three following domains:
Teamwork, Problem-Solving Confidence, and Affinity for Nature
Who Participated?
A total of 225 students who attended the 2024 Summer Bridge Program completed this survey. 91% were between the ages of 10 and 15.
Gender
Ethnicity
The Data
Appendix
Please inquire for full survey results
Teacher & Chaperone Outcomes
Following completion of the Summer Bridge 2024 Program, teachers and chaperones were asked to complete a survey to measure their reflections on the growth of their students that resulted from their five-day session.
Who Participated?
A total of 20 teachers and chaperones completed this survey after PBC’s 2024 Summer Bridge Program
The Data
Please inquire for full survey results
