To the Editor:

On Friday, October 13, Princeton-Blairstown Center (PBC) held its annual Soirée Under the Stars at Springdale Golf Club in Princeton. The event raised close to $70,000 to support our Summer Bridge Program, which addresses the “summer learning gap” for youth from low-income communities in Trenton, Newark and New York City.

More than 170 guests attended the event at Springdale Golf Club which included inspirational speeches by Axel Velazquez, a Summer Bridge student from Partnerships for Trenton, and our Princeton Internships in Civic Service (PICS) Intern, Elisabeth (Liz) Juechser. The night included hors d’oeuvres and international fare; sangria, beer, and wine; and live music by the Logan Roth Trio. The highlight of the evening was the presentation of the 2017 Frank Broderick Award to Reverend David McAlpin, Jr. ’50.

PBC empowers young people, primarily from under-resourced communities, to strengthen their social-emotional skills through experiential, environmental, and adventure-based programming. Our Summer Bridge Program is a week-long leadership development and academic enrichment program that provides three hours a day of STEM, STEAM, and project-based learning enrichment; several hours a day of ropes and challenge course work that builds critical 21st century skills like collaboration, creativity, communication, and cooperation skills; daily waterfront time; and student choice activities.

We are grateful to all our event sponsors and attendees. We are particularly grateful to Soirée Co-Chairs, Board Member, Christina Bailey and Advisory Council Member, Denise Fredericksen, and to Meredith Murray, Director of Development, for their hard work and leadership surrounding the very successful event.

Pam Gregory

President and CEO