A Decade of Growth
Since 2014, the Peer Group Connection at Hightstown High School (HHS) has been coming to the Princeton-Blairstown Center twice a year to build a cohesive team, develop their leadership skills, and disconnect from their daily lives.
The group includes 20 students each year, mostly seniors, who work in pairs with small groups of high school freshmen several times a month to work on social & emotional learning skills and help build connections for the first-year students with the school community.
When they make their first trip in August, the focus is an opportunity for the students to get to know each other and to learn about the Peer Group Connection program, which is a program of the Center for Supportive Schools. Princeton-Blairstown Center Facilitators lead much of the programming which includes icebreakers and teambuilding activities along with challenge and ropes courses. The second trip in February is a chance for the group to reconnect, re-energize, and counteract the mid-year lull. It also provides an opportunity for the students to reflect on what they learned in Blairstown during their first trip and to restore a lot of the positive feelings they had when they left after the first weekend.
Social Studies teacher Bill Kamps and Physical Education teacher Sam Biondi are the co-directors of the Peer Group Connection at HHS and have been attending the trips to Blairstown each year. They both shared that a highlight each time is seeing the growth the students have from the beginning of the weekend to the end, and from the first trip to the second. Different students take on leadership roles than they might when they are at school. And for many of the students, the trip to Blairstown is their first time being in a rustic environment.
According to Bill, “There is a real partnership with PBC – the staff really gets what we’re trying to accomplish with our group, and they work to help us meet our goals. Plus, I love that we get to enjoy this space in two different seasons.”
Sam agreed, “We’re well taken care of here. We’re continuously checked in on. The staff has gotten to know us so well over the years and always makes sure we are as comfortable as possible.”