POPULARITY
An Historic Club's Metamorphosis Through Consultancy to Interim Management To Long-Term Strategy Completion Pretty Brook Tennis Club first called BeyondTheBaselines.com in late 2019. The club was dropping members as if members were falling leaves on a cold November, football Saturday at the famed university in the club's hometown of Princeton, NJ. The president mentioned the club's membership was at just 155 member households, significantly down from its glory days when it boasted over 200. Although the five clay courts were busy on weekend mornings, the club was having difficulty finding younger families who might join. Pretty Brook was founded in 1929, however, its younger upstart just down the road, Bedens Brook was literally stealing the younger thunder and attracting the families that would be the lifeline to Pretty Brook as it headed toward its hundredth year. Princeton University is known for its eating clubs. Pretty Brook had started to resemble one of these old-fashioned institutions - a stodgy eating club rather than a modern racquets facility. Not exactly fraternities, the eleven Princetonian eating clubs are situated on Prospect Avenue just off campus. Several eating clubs still "bicker" (the phrase coined for admission decisions) as to which underclassmen they should admit. Bickering had been going on at Pretty Brook - perhaps a halcyon look back to their university days by the numerous Princeton graduates who were members of the club and had served at the board level and inside the admissions committee for years. Nonetheless, the club was at a crossroad between tradition and modernization. The Princeton University Campus on our first day of Interim Management As a management consultancy to the club, we did some of digging. The club, which boasts one indoor tennis, five outdoor clay tennis courts, two platform courts, one indoor tennis and two squash courts, wasn't jam-packed on the weekends, or really at any time during the week. Average usage on a summer's weekend morning we found from the data was 3.4 courts out of 5 of the clay courts. Mid to late morning wasn't busy on the weekends on the indoor in the winter either. And, squash was really reserved to young students from Lawrenceville preparatory school who wanted additional coaching and a practice facility. They weren't a part of the club's social scene and a squash club championship hadn't been held in recent years. As we assumed the interim general manager's role, we made changes and clarifications to the membership application process, the ethos of welcoming members and their guests, and started on the road to revitalizing and refurbishing the club's grounds and programs. Trees were cut. Irrigation was improved and ponds were reconfigured and fortified. Club championships were reintroduced in squash. The staid prizes of glass tumblers were replaced with celebrated gifts and clothing, and branded retail was introduced - all symbols with which members could show pride in their club. Change Creates Momentum Thankfully, the board was largely open to change, given the membership situation. Through our mentorship, we investigated methods and programming to create greater court usage and larger revenues. We discussed membership drives. With Corey Ball, the Director of Tennis whom we were fortunate to inherit from the previous management firm, we were allowed to make substantial changes. We moved the teaching court during certain times for Live Ball and 105 from the traditional teaching court, shaded at the back of the club, to the center two courts under the eyes of those on the patio lunching. This shift brought instruction and social tennis to the forefront of the club. Perhaps impossible just a few months previous, we were now filling three courts with 24 members on a social night rather than having years-old, closed doubles games with only half the players across those three courts. And,
Often, it can feel challenging to evangelize — knowing where to begin or how to enter into conversations about faith. Dr. Vince Vitale explores how Christ's approach and dedication to conversation led people to the truth, and how we can do the same by following His model with the help of the Holy Spirit. You can hear more from Dr. Vitale at kardiaquestions.com. Kardia is a ministry that seeks to broaden and deepen our understanding of apologetics - reconciling hearts not only to God, but also to others and even ourselves. Dr. Vince Vitale was educated at Princeton University and the University of Oxford, and he taught philosophy and theology as a faculty member briefly at Princeton and then for several years at Oxford. It was during his undergraduate studies at Princeton that Vince was challenged to read the Bible by two soccer teammates and took an unexpected journey from skeptic to evangelist. He then completed master's and PhD studies at Oxford, receiving a Daniel M. Sachs Graduating Scholarship (at the time awarded annually to one graduating Princetonian) and a Clarendon Scholarship (supported by Oxford University Press). Alongside his work with Kardia, Vince serves as Faculty Scholar at CEO Forum and as a host of the Unbelievable? podcast. Previously, he served as Team Director of The Oxford Centre for Christian Apologetics.
Jeff Burt '66, Jim Hitch '71, and Peter Pettibone '61 might know a bit more about Russia than the average Princetonian. All three headed up the Soviet and Russian practices of the international law firms where they were partners: Arnold & Porter, Baker & McKenzie, and Hogan Lovells, respectively. On Sept. 20, the same day that Ukraine President Volodymr Zelensky addressed the United Nations, they discussed their thoughts on the war with fellow alumni at a Tiger Talks '66 event, and shared an important message: The threat of nuclear war is very real. On the latest PAWcast, the three shared their thoughts on the conflict, Putin's rationale, the role of NATO, how it could be affected by the recent violence in Israel and Gaza — and just how far this war could go.
Lauren Freedman, a life-long Princetonian who's taught math, led committees, and engaged with students at PHS for over a decade, began her tenure as Assistant Principal this October 2nd. I got the chance to ask her about her vision for the future of our school. (It was awesome.)
Want to join the prince? Check out our application join.dailyprincetonian.com
New Year. Same Us. We're getting the Speaker news cycle out of the way first so we can jump into some of our favorite stories like homophobic telescopes and white supremacist exercise. Watch this episode on YouTube. If you have a story you want us to talk about, e-mail us at wretches@nebulouspodcasts.com. Receive show notes directly in your inbox, subscribe to the newsletter here. Time Stamps: 03:30 Front Page 43:24 Obsessions 49:03 Reader Mail 53:48 Favorite Item of the Week Show Notes: NYT: How Naming the James Webb Telescope Turned Into a Fight Over Homophobia NYT: How a Dog's Killing Turned Brooklyn Progressives Against One Another New York Times on Twitter: In the Bahamas, a Lingering Sympathy for Sam Bankman-Fried The Cut: Representative Delia Ramirez Knows the Housing Struggle AEI: WaPo's Apologia for School Library Porn TIME: The White Supremacist Origins of Exercise, and 6 Other Surprising Facts About the History of U.S. Physical Fitness NY Post: How ESPN handled broadcast during horrifying Damar Hamlin injury NYtimes: There Has Never Been a Better Time to Be Short WaPo: Art at Capitol honors 141 enslavers and 13 Confederates. Who are they? The Princetonian: 3 Princeton DEI staff members resign, alleging lack of support WSJ: When Mary Met the Angel The Wrap: Semafor to 'Redeem' Sam Bankman-Fried Investment - In Other Words, Return It (Exclusive)
In this special episode Folarin explains why Go with the Flo will no longer be distributed by the Daily Princetonian. Enjoy!
What guides the direction of history? Fate? Random chance? On this episode of 5 Minutes in Church History, Dr. Stephen Nichols evaluates how one Princetonian scholar went about answering this age-old question. Read the transcript: https://www.5minutesinchurchhistory.com/what-governs-history/ A donor-supported outreach of Ligonier Ministries. Donate: https://www.5minutesinchurchhistory.com/donate/
Rohan Jasani '23 and Aparna Shankar '21 are two of the many international students at Princeton. They join Susan (2:30) to discuss their Perspectives on quarantine (3:59), Perceptions of both American and Princetonian cultures (6:18), and the unique space that international students hold at an American university (22:47). They also answer all of your juicy, Pitched questions (30:24), including if Rohan is single, the strangeness of American small talk, thoughts regarding ICE's announcement, and movie/TV recommendations. Finally, the three students discuss Hollywood's enormous cultural capital (54:14) and relate to the peculiar feeling of pride when POCs reach the big screen.Join Instacart today for safe and easy grocery delivery (all affiliate proceeds that do not directly fund the production of P's in a Pod will be donated): https://instacart.oloiyb.net/psinapodSupport the show (https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/psinapod)
Since the world seems very upside down these days, let us begin with an upside down story. Many people do not realize that most prestigious universities were begun with one of their primary emphasis being to train ministers. Harvard and Yale were Puritan schools. Harvard was named after a Christian minister. Yale was started by a clergyman. Princeton defined Presbyterianism for a long time finding its roots in The Log College designed specifically to train ministers. One only has to check out the old crests and latin slogans of many schools to discover the truth of this.There certainly is an irony to the fact that most of these schools morphed into institutions overtly hostile to any version of classical Christianity. By the early 1900’s farmers having saved for a lifetime to send one of their children to college got back a confident faithless adult child. Soon Bible Colleges started to pop up, assuring parents this faithless transition wouldn’t occur there.But now the story gets even weirder. Churches themselves started to imitate what happened in the colleges & universities. More and more traditional beliefs were falling away as sophisticated thinkers assured people that no one with a brain really believes many of the things in the Bible any more. 19th Century Philosophical Liberalism was turning into the story of 20th Century mainstream churches. Intelligence was being measured not by what one believed but by what they didn’t believe. Gone were the Sunday School stories of a Creation mandated by God, Moses and the burning bush, Jonah and the whale, Noah and the Arc let alone Jesus walking on water and a gravestone rolled away. We knew better now. 2000 years after the time of Christ we had it figured out. Those poor ignorant people who for 1900 years believed in a God who created something out of nothing and sent his son to redeem mankind just didn’t get the truth.By the time the 1970’s rolled around churches were pretty well divided between those who were more “Bible believing” and those more what we will call “Progressive”. For many, these issues just weren’t doing anything for them spiritually, emotionally, or in any way really, and the decline of church attendance got momentum. It was boring, irrelevant, faithless and passé. But… then some young baby boomer church leaders decided that the issues weren’t so much intellectual ones as they were stylistic. Princetonian sermons with three alliterated points and a poem weren’t relevant to real life. Hymns and responsive readings were boring. Creeds in unison seemed meaningless. But what would happen if we took a biblically based message with relevant application for real life and combined it with music we actually listened to and dropped out the boring liturgy, maybe even throw in a drama or multi media show?Orange County California had some of the first churches developed with many of these thoughts. The Chrystal Cathedral was a precursor of sorts to the movement and Robert Schuller a mentor to a few. Calvary Chapel certainly comes to mind. South Coast Community, now Mariners was another. Later on Saddleback took the lead. That’s the kind of church many Millennials saw as typical church. Let’s talk to one of them today.Ryan Gaffney, Woodbridge High School Grad in Irvine and then Concordia University in Irvine and then Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary. He now pastors College Park Presbyterian Church in Orlando, Florida.
Since the world seems very upside down these days, let us begin with an upside down story. Many people do not realize that most prestigious universities were begun with one of their primary emphasis being to train ministers. Harvard and Yale were Puritan schools. Harvard was named after a Christian minister. Yale was started by a clergyman. Princeton defined Presbyterianism for a long time finding its roots in The Log College designed specifically to train ministers. One only has to check out the old crests and latin slogans of many schools to discover the truth of this.There certainly is an irony to the fact that most of these schools morphed into institutions overtly hostile to any version of classical Christianity. By the early 1900’s farmers having saved for a lifetime to send one of their children to college got back a confident faithless adult child. Soon Bible Colleges started to pop up, assuring parents this faithless transition wouldn’t occur there.But now the story gets even weirder. Churches themselves started to imitate what happened in the colleges & universities. More and more traditional beliefs were falling away as sophisticated thinkers assured people that no one with a brain really believes many of the things in the Bible any more. 19th Century Philosophical Liberalism was turning into the story of 20th Century mainstream churches. Intelligence was being measured not by what one believed but by what they didn’t believe. Gone were the Sunday School stories of a Creation mandated by God, Moses and the burning bush, Jonah and the whale, Noah and the Arc let alone Jesus walking on water and a gravestone rolled away. We knew better now. 2000 years after the time of Christ we had it figured out. Those poor ignorant people who for 1900 years believed in a God who created something out of nothing and sent his son to redeem mankind just didn’t get the truth.By the time the 1970’s rolled around churches were pretty well divided between those who were more “Bible believing” and those more what we will call “Progressive”. For many, these issues just weren’t doing anything for them spiritually, emotionally, or in any way really, and the decline of church attendance got momentum. It was boring, irrelevant, faithless and passé. But… then some young baby boomer church leaders decided that the issues weren’t so much intellectual ones as they were stylistic. Princetonian sermons with three alliterated points and a poem weren’t relevant to real life. Hymns and responsive readings were boring. Creeds in unison seemed meaningless. But what would happen if we took a biblically based message with relevant application for real life and combined it with music we actually listened to and dropped out the boring liturgy, maybe even throw in a drama or multi media show?Orange County California had some of the first churches developed with many of these thoughts. The Chrystal Cathedral was a precursor of sorts to the movement and Robert Schuller a mentor to a few. Calvary Chapel certainly comes to mind. South Coast Community, now Mariners was another. Later on Saddleback took the lead. That’s the kind of church many Millennials saw as typical church. Let’s talk to one of them today.Ryan Gaffney, Woodbridge High School Grad in Irvine and then Concordia University in Irvine and then Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary. He now pastors College Park Presbyterian Church in Orlando, Florida.
Skiveo Radio: Conversations With Minorities In and Out of College
We’ve all come a long way.In October, 2018 I went to the She Roars conference at my alma mater, after originally planning to miss it, ignore it. Do anything else.Boy, was rsvping days before the deadline worth it. Or should I say gurrl, was rsvping days before the deadline worth it.This is the second of this series.
John V. Fleming *63 describes his time as a Ph.D. student as “a blur,” but his four decades on the faculty left a clearer impression. “For me, Princeton was the perfect place,” he said. “I became a Princetonian by adoption, in a sense, rather than by rite.” (PAW Tracks, season 2, episode 11)
The Gist of Freedom Preserving American History through Black Literature . . .
Princeton, NJ is known for Michele Obama's Alma mater Princeton University but very few are aware of the fact that Princeton also has a historical black section. Former African American Mayor, Mr. Floyd will teach us more about The Witherspoon Street community. This area is named after the founder of the community's First Black church, The Witherspoon Street Presbyterian Church. Paul Robeson's Father, a freed black was it's minister and it's First Black Missionary, Betsey Stockton was also the founder of it's Sunday School. Paul Robeson a scholar, Rutgers University Valedictorian, lawyer and a linguistic genius; as an actor he performed in 25 different languages- is Princeton's proud native son. Check out the YOUTUBE video on Robeson As a political activist, Robeson and his neighbor, fellow Princetonian, Albert Einstein led a march to President Truman's office to campaign for the passage of anti-Lynching legislation. To learn more, view the YouTube video at the bottom of this page.