From today's New Haven Register:
Yale Club combines the best of town and gown
NEW HAVEN >> The last thing the Yale Club of New Haven wants is to become a secret society.
Far from being exclusive and cloaked in mystery, the 104-year-old club is actively recruiting members. And here’s a surprise: You don’t have to be a Yalie to join.
“A big part of our mission has to do with community service in Greater New Haven, which is important to everyone,” said club President B. Patrick Madden.
The Yale Club of New Haven, part of a network of Yale clubs around the world, has about 500 members. The members include Yale graduates who stayed in the area, parents of Yale students, local business people and New Haven natives who earned Yale degrees.
“It’s a way to stay engaged,” said Daniel Koenigsberg, class of 1962 and the club’s assistant secretary, who grew up in New Haven and now lives in Woodbridge. “Once you finish school, you have no formal connection with the university.”
It was the Yale Club of New Haven that originated the Yale Day of Service, a now annual event that sends thousands of volunteers into service projects around the world to help at soup kitchens, community cleanups, tutoring programs and homebuilding efforts.
“We’ve always seen that as one of our challenges, to create things that are then picked up on and expanded,” said Madden, class of 1969, who lives in Woodbridge.
Moving forward, the club wants to help with Yale President Peter Salovey’s pledge to make Yale more accessible to the wider community. The club intends to pursue mentoring programs that pair current students with local entrepreneurs and develop internships.
The club also is heavily involved in funding local scholarships. This year, the club is giving $290,000 to 65 undergraduate and graduate students from Greater New Haven.
Indeed, to a large degree the club functions as a bridge between local high schools, the university and a group of some 4,000 Yale graduates who live in an area from Milford to Madison and up to Wallingford.
The Yale Club of New Haven conducts some 300 interviews each year with high schoolers applying to Yale.
“It’s terrific. I’ve been doing interviews for 30 years,” Koenigsberg said. “You get a real sense of what students are like now, compared to 10, 20 or 30 years ago. We define ourselves not just as interviewers, but as advocates, helping high school students navigate their way through the system.”
Elaine Piraino-Holevoet of New Haven, one of the club’s vice presidents, helps organize an annual book award for 43 high schools.
A student from each school gets a free book — usually a Yale University Press book — and another book goes to the school library. The book award includes a luncheon at Yale, as well.
“Some of the families have never been on campus before. It’s a nice day,” Piraino-Holevoet, class of 1975, said.
According to Madden, annual dues for the club are about $50. Membership includes such things as hockey and basketball nights, scotch and wine tastings, financial literacy seminars and guest speakers who visit campus.
Club member John Caserta of North Haven, class of 2001, said he’s also trying to start a club group for runners.
“We’re trying to connect with all the alums who stay here after they graduate,” Caserta said. “We’re coming up with ideas to have our young professionals interact more with the university.”
For more information about the Yale Club of New Haven, call 203-432-4435 or visit www.ycnh.org.
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