I grew up at the Princeton-Blairstown Center (PBC). My father, John Danielson ’58, spent most of his professional life serving Princeton University — in the admission office, in the dean of students office, in the Office of Development, and for a significant time at PBC. At PBC he was one of the visionaries, then executive director, then director of development, and finally a Board of Trustees member.
My father passed away two years ago, but I feel confident speaking on his behalf. He was always very grateful for the education that he pursued and received at Princeton; however, the education that found him and changed the course of his life, he encountered through his involvement with PBC. He was able to take the foundation of his Princeton University education and apply it in the service of the nation by supporting the work of the center to empower underserved youth from the New Jersey/New York/Pennsylvania region to chart courses for themselves that they otherwise might not have been able to.
My father told us often that parenting was his most important work, and that second to that was the work he did through PBC. I can say confidently that my father’s legacy took root at Princeton and took flight at Blairstown. As a second-generation PBC staff and board member, I believe that it would be a tragedy for the relationship between the University and the Princeton-Blairstown Center to dissolve or change in a way that would interfere with PBC’s (and by extension, the University’s) ability to serve the children of the nation in the way that it currently does and historically has.