Education | Princeton Magazine

This Weekend in Princeton: June 23-25

Friday, June 23

10 a.m. to noon: The Friends of the Princeton Public Library Preview Sale (regular sale begins at noon and continues through Saturday, June 24 at 5:30 p.m.).

12 to 8:30 p.m.: The annual Friends of Princeton Public Library Book Sale. The sale features special collections and rare books as well as books in all genres and for all ages. Princeton Public Library.

12:30 p.m.: Meeting, Gotham Networking at Eno Terra in Kingston. The cost to attend is $38 per person. For more information, visit www.gothamnetworking.com.

7 to 10 p.m.: The Trinity Counseling Service Junior Board presents The Summer Soiree, A Taste of Hope at D&R Greenway in Princeton. Tastings of food, wine, and brews. For tickets, visit www.tcssummersoiree.org. more

Persevering Through Ups and Downs, Warren Ends PU Rowing Career on a High

PULLING IT OFF: Princeton University women’s lightweight rower Christina Warren competes in a race this spring during her senior season. Co-captain Warren ended her college career on a high note, helping the Princeton varsity 8 to a bronze medal at the IRA (Intercollegiate Rowing Association) national championship regatta earlier this month. Last week, Warren and fellow co-captain Juliette Hackett were named to the 2017 Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association All-America team. (Photo Courtesy of Princeton’s Office of Athletic Communications)

By Bill Alden

As a young girl growing up in Sarasota, Fla., Christina Warren dreamed of being a college athlete.

Initially, Warren viewed tennis as her route to the next level, winning multiple USTA (United State Tennis Association) titles in youth competition.

But after suffering a back injury as a 15-year-old, Warren switched to rowing, joining the Sarasota Crew club program.

Warren enjoyed being part of a crew right from the start. “I think the biggest thing for me was that I was used to being on my own as an individual with tennis and when I switched to rowing it is totally the opposite,” said Warren. “It is probably the most team-oriented sport, and doing that was huge for me.” more

Tracy K. Smith Appointed Poet Laureate Consultant

Tracy K. Smith, the Roger S. Berlind ’52 Princeton University Professor in the Humanities and a professor of creative writing in the Lewis Center for the Arts, has been named the 22nd Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry for 2017-18.

Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden announced the appointment today. Ms. Smith will take up her duties in the fall, opening the Library of Congress’s annual literary season with a reading of her work at the Coolidge Auditorium. more

Morven’s July 4th Jubilee Offers Free Family Fun

Every year, in observance of Independence Day, Morven Museum and Garden at 55 Stockton Street in Princeton hosts a FREE event celebrating America’s heritage at the home-turned-museum of Richard Stockton, a signer of the Declaration of Independence.

The festivities take place on Tuesday, July 4, from noon to 3 p.m. No registration is necessary.

Perfect for the entire family, the fun-filled afternoon will feature live bluegrass music on the front porch by Ocean Country Band; an All-American BBQ with refreshments by Oink & Moo BBQ, Tower Dogs and Halo Pub; an opportunity for children of all ages to “sign” the Declaration of Independence; and a meet and greet with General George Washington portrayed by renowned reenactor Bill Agress. more

This Weekend in Princeton: June 16-18

Howell Living History Farm holds its Annual Dairy Day on Saturday, June 17 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Friday, June 16

5 to 8 p.m.: Sunset Sips and Sounds at Terhune Winery at Terhune Orchards (repeats weekly throughout the summer).

6 p.m.: JaZams Summer Block Party at Palmer Square West. Free admission includes crafts, activities, live music, movie screening, and family fun!

6:30 to 7:30 p.m.: Concert: Frances Catherine & Union County. Modern country leaning band perform material of Alison Krauss. Part of the Sounds of Summer series. Hinds Plaza. more

Preparing For The Trenches – Princeton’s Role in WWI

By Anne Levin

Photography Courtesy of The Historical Society of Princeton

World War I had been raging in Europe for three years when the United States finally declared war on the German Empire on April 6, 1917. By the time the armistice was signed over a year later, this global conflict of massive, devastating proportions had claimed more than 17 million lives. more

Cherry Valley Cooperative Growing Into Its New Location

By Doug Wallack

The Cherry Valley Cooperative prepares for its first harvest at its new location. (Photo by Rachel Steinhauser)

“You know, the food that we’re eating is just devoid of nutrients, and it’s devoid of flavor,” Lauren Nagy says, perched on a plastic chair in the greenhouse of the Cherry Valley Cooperative. Rows of carrots, Swiss chard, kale, and all manner of other vegetable sit in starter trays stretching to the back of the facility in a patchwork of greens. A barrel-sized bucket of “compost tea” brews, gurgling nearby. Ms. Nagy explains that much of the flavor and aroma of fruits and vegetables is influenced and enriched by soil life. She says that large-scale agricultural producers tend to neglect soil quality, to the detriment of their produce. “People just don’t want to eat it — because it sucks,” she says, “We’re trying to make people like food again.” more

Princeton University P-rade 2017

The Tradition Continues

Photography by Charles R. Plohn

Inside Princeton Reunions

By Doug Wallack

Art by James McPhillips/JayMcPhillips.com

Sometime in April of each year—typically just in time for campus preview visits for accepted high school seniors—the cold, grey damp of winter at Princeton University gives way to a brilliant spring. Dogwood flowers and daffodils grace the grounds with flecks of gold, and white and pink. Saucer Magnolias bloom, lining the newly verdant up-campus lawns. Following their campus’s botanical lead, students emerge too, and all life at the university becomes more visible. Professors hold classes on the steps of the sundial in McCosh Courtyard, and students take their reading outside. The odd frisbee or slack line appears. more

The Maker Movement: The Dawn of Something Big

By Doug Wallack

On June 18, 2014, President Barack Obama hosted the first White House Maker Faire. Part science fair, part cultural showcase, that day’s event bore witness to a 17-foot-tall robotic giraffe ambling around the grounds, a working piano keyboard made from touch-sensitive bananas, a wealth of 3D-printed objects—including pancakes in the shape of president’s face—and more. In his remarks on the day’s proceedings, Obama hailed the ingenuity of ordinary citizens made possible by increasingly accessible technology.

Obama located the inventors gathered there at the vanguard of the grand sweep of American innovation: Americans had realized dreams of a transcontinental railroad, networks of telegraph lines, the lightbulb, the Internet. What would come of this current frenzy of discovery and invention was anyone’s guess. “It gives you a sense that we are at the dawn of something big,” he said. more

The Art and Life of the Landscape, from Cézanne to Capability Brown

By Stuart Mitchner

When the weather was gloomy and the mood was right, I could see a Cézanne painting in our backyard. This minor miracle was due not to any mortal painter or landscaper but to the mighty forces that formed the Princeton Ridge, which we have been living on for thirty years. Thanks to some long-long-ago geological turbulence, the makers of the Ridge deposited an immense boulder smack in the middle of the yard, forming a focal point for painterly fantasies. Half a year ago an ash tree was growing out of a cleft in the boulder, creating an effect not unlike the tree-in-rock formation in the right foreground of Cézanne’s Rocks—Forest of Fontainebleau, of which Ernest Hemingway said, “This is what we try to do in writing, this and this, and the woods, and the rocks we have to climb over.” more

Terhune Orchards Hosts a Reunion For Peace Corps Alumni and Prospects

PEACE CORPS MEMORIES: Pam and Gary Mount of Terhune Orchards volunteered in Micronesia for the Peace Corps back in the late 1960s. Gary, above and below, helped build an outrigger canoe in the time-honored tradition of the islands. (Photos Courtesy of Pam and Gary Mount)

Written by Anne Levin

Pam and Gary Mount spent the first three years of their marriage in the Peace Corps. Married only a month, the couple, who dated all through Princeton High School, set off in 1967 for a remote island in Micronesia. There, and on smaller islands in the western Pacific Ocean chain, they did agricultural work, taught, and helped build a water tank, among other tasks. more

Film Director Baz Luhrmann Selected as 2017 Class Day Speaker

Written by Princeton University’s Office of Communications

Academy Award-nominated film director, screenwriter and producer Baz Luhrmann has been selected to deliver the keynote address at Princeton University’s Class Day ceremony on Monday, June 5, 2017.

Class Day, which takes place the day before Princeton’s Commencement, is being organized by members of the graduating class. The ceremony also includes remarks by class members, the recognition of class members for their contributions and the induction of honorary class members. more

Princeton Insider: Graduation Gifts

Surprise the college graduate in your life with something fabulous and functional.

Illustration Courtesy of the Historical Society of Princeton

Friday, May 19

6 to 9 p.m.: Opening reception for ArtJam at 19 Hulfish Street in Princeton’s Palmer Square. The exhibit features national and local artists. Proceeds benefit HomeFront’s ArtSpace (the exhibit will be on view through June 6).

6:30 p.m.: Award-winning author and professor Eddie Glaude Jr. speaks at One Table Café at Trinity Church, Princeton. Reservations are required by May 17. RSVP by calling (609) 216-7770.

7 to 9 p.m.: Opening Night, Dancing Under the Stars at Hinds Plaza co-sponsored by Princeton Public Library and Central Jersey Dance. more

Joyce Carol Oates at Labyrinth Books

Joyce Carol Oates will read from and discuss her latest work, A Book of American Martyrs, at Labyrinth Books of Princeton on Wednesday, May 25 at 6 p.m.

Described by the Washington Post as “The most relevant book of Oates’s half-century-long career, a powerful reminder that fiction can be as timely as this morning’s tweets but infinitely more illuminating.” more

This Weekend in Princeton: May 12-14

Friday, May 12

6:30 to 8 p.m.: Damsel Duo, an indie-neo-folk group featuring Beth Meyers and Monica Mugan, presents a Mother’s Day concert with acoustic-based duo Helen and Molly. Molly Trueman of Helen and Molly is Mugan’s daughter; Hinds Plaza.

Saturday, May 13

9 a.m. to 1 p.m.: St. Lawrence Rehabilitation Center hosts its annual Bike Safety Rodeo and Safe Kids Day. Children ages 3-12 and their families are invited to learn about safety and prevention when participating in sports and other recreational activities. Children will receive free bike helmets, have their bikes inspected, and ride a safety course. RSVP by emailing bikerodeo@slrc.org. more

Princeton Area Party Venues for Kids

Check out some creative party venues for kids in the greater Princeton area

“You’re invited!”

By Sarah Emily Gilbert

It’s the sentence that makes children shriek with excitement. Full of presents, treats, and entertainment, birthday parties are the height of childhood fun. But as parents keep upping the birthday party anti, the yearly celebration can leave families at a loss for new and creative ideas. Alas, the days of Pin the Tail on the Donkey and ice cream cake might be ending, but luckily, our area is filled with unique birthday venues to keep you up with the Joneses. From arty parties to farm fetes, we outline party venues that will make all of your child’s birthday wishes come true. more

Scenes From McCarter Theatre Center’s Gala 2017

A Night in Old Havana

Photography by Erica Cardenas

On Saturday, May 6, McCarter Theatre Center welcomed Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra to “A Night in Old Havana” Gala 2017. The evening began with a cocktail reception and dinner on McCarter’s back lawn, which was tented and decorated with 1940’s-era old Havana flare. The musical performance was held at McCarter’s Matthews Theater. The electric after-party included more food, entertainment, and dance. All proceeds benefit McCarter’s Artistic, Education, and Engagement Programs. more

In Pictures: Communiversity 2017

Pops of Color and Whirls of Music

Photography by Erica Cardenas

Communiversity 2017 took place on Sunday, April 30. The streets of downtown Princeton swelled with visitors who enjoyed non-stop entertainment, food, and vendors from 1 to 6 p.m. Various stages were erected around town and performances ranged from alternative rock concerts to flamenco. Witherspoon Media Group was there, handing out the latest editions of Town Topics Newspaper, Princeton Magazine, and Urban Agenda Magazine. Witherspoon Media Group photographer Erica Cardenas made sure to capture all of the action. more