Through our long nights on the porch in Twins and countless team building activities, I learned to love and trust the LITs as though they were my biological siblings.  More importantly, I learned things and made memories that I will cherish forever. PBC was a huge learning experience. In some way or another, everything that happened [there] impacted me.

- Bailei, 2018 Leader-in-Training Participant

The Leader-In-Training (LIT) Program

The Princeton-Blairstown Center reimagined and restarted its Leader-In-Training (LIT) Program in 2018. The one-year LIT program is for rising high school juniors and seniors and focuses on helping teens develop strong leadership skills, lessen summer learning loss, increase 21st Century and social-emotional skills, and gain hands-on employment experience. The program consists of intensive work during a six-week summer residential program with additional touch points throughout the year.

Students from historically marginalized communities who are nominated for the program complete an application and a competitive interview process to secure one of ten spots. Students receive a $1,000 stipend upon successful completion of the summer program that includes:

  • Exploring a range of leadership styles, identifying their default leadership style, and actively developing leadership skills;

  • Honing critical 21st Century social-emotional skills like communication, cooperation, critical thinking, creativity, problem-solving, teambuilding, and decision-making through the Center’s initiatives, challenge courses, and high ropes courses;

  • Engaging in hands-on financial literacy, literacy, and S.T.E.M. classes to combat summer learning loss;

  • Rotating through five job areas at the Center to learn hard and soft employment skills;

  • Receiving mentoring and practicing goal setting to develop a plan for school and work;

  • Developing a resume and a personal statement; and

  • Learning the value of reflection through conversation in small groups with a focus on one’s personal journey and developing the tools needed to navigate forward in life.

Tentative dates for 2025 will be June 30th - August 8th. Participants must arrive on June 29th to check in.
For more information, or to receive a nomination form, please contact Pat Karl at pkarl@princetonblairstown.org.