Yale Book Awards, 2024

YWAA leaders will present the annual Yale Book Awards this spring, which are awarded to outstanding Westchester high school students. The schools select the winners, who are cited for excellence in academics, extracurricular activities and contributions to the community.

Book award winners in 2024 will be shown below, as winners are announced. In most years, awards are granted to students from over 25 Westchester high schools. 

Last year's winners included some who have started or led service organizations on campus, been engaged in research in biology, excelled in a broad range of AP courses, starred on sports teams (baseball, wrestling and soccer), and won county honors in band and music (violin and trumpet).

A list of some of the winners in 2023 is shown below.

Teachers, counselors and principals help choose one student for each designated high school. Winners are highlighted at honors programs or school events and receive a selected book from YWAA and a certificate of achievement. 

In years past, the book included such titles as Yale Book of Quotations, Mapping the Heavens: The Radical Scientific Ideals That Reveal the Cosmos, and A Better Planet: Forty Big Ideas for a Sustainable Future. 

Winners, who are often students completing junior years, may consider applying to Yale, but are not required to do so. 

For more about YWAA Book Award presentations since 2014, click YALE-BOOK-AWARDS. 

Click YALE-WESTCHESTER to see a list of winners since 2008.

Yale Book Award Winners, 2023

Eastchester High School (Lucy Mortensen)

Edgemont High School (Kathryn Lux Koch)

New Rochelle High School (Eileen Weisner)

Port Chester High School (Frances Nakeysha Fevrier)

Salesian High School (Joseph Roman IV)

Scarsdale High School (Kyle Pidedjian)

School of the Holy Child (Rebecca Weigle)

Tuckahoe High School (Joanne Arana)

Valhalla High School (Sarthak Bagchi)

White Plains High School (Shariya Hasan)

Woodlands High School (Alexander Maiello)

Townsend Hops Aboard Yale's Glory Ride

Townsend, no. 42, prepares to set a screen for teammate Mez Mbeng, no. 2, during the Ivy League tournament game against Cornell. Yale beat the Big Red, 69-57, in the first round of the tournament at Columbia.  (YWAA photo)

The Yale men's basketball team experienced a glory ride this spring, a bandwagon of sorts many Yale alums joined once they heard about the miracle shot at Columbia in New York. Yale senior Matt Knowling tossed in a looping six-foot shot at the buzzer to help the Elis win the Ivy League championship, 62-61, in a tight, tense game with Brown in late March.

An important contributor to the team's success was Westchester's own Nick Townsend '26, a rugged power forward, often the first to come off the bench, a regular "sixth man" who played as often as many starters. 

Townsend, a Chappaqua native, is a football offensive guard in appearance, who might have been able to manage playing time on the football team if he had such interest. For the basketball unit, Townsend has been a bruising player under the basket, good enough to "pound boards" and push opponents (legally) around and stake a claim under the basketball. During the season, he averaged 6.0 points and 3.9 rebounds per game. He scored 14 points in Yale's 80-60 win over Harvard in early March. 

Townsend followed footsteps of his older brother, Matt '15, who also starred at Yale and played in a similar position all four years. Brother Matt grabbed notoriety, too, during his time when he earned a Rhodes Scholarship and went on to Harvard Medical School. Younger brother Nick, wrapping up sophomore year, will likely become a starter next season. In a game against Stony Brook in November, he blazed his foes with 22 points, 11 rebounds. 

The glory ride of spring '24 continued five days later when Coach James Jones' squad trekked across the country to take on the SEC tournament champion, the mighty Auburn Tigers. In the shocker heard all around the basketball world, Yale thwarted Auburn, 78-76, in arguably the biggest upset in the tournament this season. Auburn's front line towered above Townsend, who stands 6' 7". He held his own by scoring 4 points in the nationally televised contest, a game that sports pundits and experts raved about for 48 hours. Yes, fitting for a "shining moment."           

Unfortunately, moments of basketball euphoria dimmed two days later in the second round when San Diego State raced up and down the court for an 85-57 easy win over the Bulldogs. 

On to next season. The Bulldogs will likely be projected to be in the Ivy's top four and reach another Ivy tournament, this time to be held at Brown.

Below, Townsend grabs one of his four rebounds in the Ivy League tournament game against Cornell. (YWAA photo). 

Yale Seizes The Game, 2023

Typically in a Yale-Harvard football showdown, the teams go back and forth all game long. They trade jabs, score alternating touchdowns, and seek ways to extend leads. So many times The Game comes down to an unfurling of football events in the fourth quarter. A turnover. A long bomb to a wide-open, uncovered receiver. A fumbled punt return. 

In New Haven, in the 139th edition of The Game (Nov. 18, 2023), Harvard entered the contest with the better record. And those who follow Ivy football closer than the rest of the population likely argued Harvard had the better team. Harvard officials often boasted during the season of its national ranking (among FCS schools).

Over 51,000 fans (mostly Yale followers and more than a few curious fans with no ties to either school) squeezed into the Bowl for one of the largest Bowl crowd in many years. The "crush" of the crowd near the portals felt like a Game from the 1970s or '80s. New Haven's unpredictable weather behaved, as the sun cast sharp rays onto the Bowl's floor. 

Yale quarterback Nolan Grooms '24 led the Elis up and down the field, as he had done often as a starter throughout his time in New Haven. He helped ensure This Game, unlike Games in recent years, wouldn't be settled in the final minute or over the last few plays. Yale emerged as the 23-18 victor, while in hundreds of students and younger alums followed tradition and scampered onto the field afterward to celebrate. Yale, too, had seized a share of the 2023 Ivy League championship, a trophy to stand beside the Ivy tropy it won last year, too. 

Yale Book Awards, 2023

This spring YWAA leaders presented the annual Yale Book Awards, which are awarded to outstanding Westchester high school students. The schools select the winners, who are cited for excellence in academics, extracurricular activities and contributions to the community.

A preliminary list of this year's winners is shown below. As more schools announce winners, the list will increase. In most years, awards are granted to students from over 25 Westchester high schools. 

This year's winners include some who have started or led service organizations on campus, been engaged in research in biology, excelled in a broad range of AP courses, starred on sports teams (baseball, wrestling and soccer), and won county honors in band and music (violin and trumpet)

Teachers, counselors and principals help to choose one student for each designated high school. Winners are highlighted at honors programs or school events and receive a selected book from YWAA and a certificate of achievement. 

In years past, the book included such titles as Yale Book of Quotations, Mapping the Heavens: The Radical Scientific Ideals That Reveal the Cosmos, and A Better Planet: Forty Big Ideas for a Sustainable Future. 

Winners, who are often students completing junior years, may consider applying to Yale, but are not required to do so. 

For more about YWAA Book Award presentations since 2014, click YALE-BOOK-AWARDS. 

Click YALE-WESTCHESTER to see a list of winners since 2008, 

Yale Book Awards Winners, 2023 (as of July-2023)

Eastchester High School (Lucy Mortensen)

Edgemont High School (Kathryn Lux Koch)

New Rochelle High School (Eileen Weisner)

Port Chester High School (Frances Nakeysha Fevrier)

Salesian High School (Joseph Roman IV)

Scarsdale High School (Kyle Pidedjian)

School of the Holy Child (Rebecca Weigle)

Tuckahoe High School (Joanne Arana)

Valhalla High School (Sarthak Bagchi)

White Plains High School (Shariya Hasan)

Woodlands High School (Alexander Maiello)

Whipple '75 Discusses Biden in Office

Chris Whipple '75 spoke at the YWAA/Scarsdale Forum event, June 3, 2023 (YWAA photos).

Author Chris Whipple '75 chronicled and reviewed the first half of the Biden presidency at a special lecture in Scarsdale, June 3. His speech was part of the lecture series sponsored by the Scarsdale Forum and the YWAA speaker series, held at the Scarsdale Library.  

Whipple shared details from his latest publication and offered in insider's account of President Biden in office. He later signed copies of the book, The Fight of His Life: Inside Joe Biden's White House.  He is also the author of acclaimed books The Gatekeepers and The Spy Masters.

Whipple is a long-time documentarian and won Emmys as a producer at ABC News and CBS News. To purchase a copy of the new book, click Biden Presidency. 

About 50 people, including Yale alumni and Westchester residents, attended the event.

For more about the YWAA speaker series, click YWAA-Events. 

Author Whipple Will Speak in Scarsdale

Appearing in Scarsdale June 3, Chris Whipple '75 will share observations of the Biden administration from his latest book.

Chris Whipple '75, the author, television producer and documentary filmmaker, will speak about his newly published book The Fight for His Life: Inside Joe Biden's White House at the Scarsdale Library in Scarsdale, Saturday, June 3 at 2 pm. 

The event will be hosted by the Scarsdale Forum, the Scarsdale Library and YWAA. It is also part of the YWAA lecture series, which brings Yale-affiliated speakers to Westchester. Guests can attend the June 3 event in person or register and join online via Zoom. (See below.)

Whipple's latest work chronicles the first two years of President Biden's administration, starting in its early days after the inauguration, when Biden confronted crises ranging from the pandemic to the revolt on Capitol Hill, from the conflict in Afghanistan to demonstrations against racial injustice. 

Whipple, granted access to the inner workings of the White House, provides an insider's account of the first half of the Biden presidency. 

In a review of the book in the New York Times, author John Gans wrote, "Whipple shines when, like the documentarian he is, he lets people talk....Whipple proves adept at getting members of a relatively opaque administration to play the blame game in print." 

He adds, "For any future writer eager to describe Biden's first two years, this will be the book cited first and most often."

In February, Whipple lectured on campus at Yale, sharing his Biden observations at Yale's Jackson School. The event was hosted by the School's International Security Studies program. 

He is also the author of the book The Gatekeepers (2017), which examines the responsibilities and extraordinary burdens of White House Chiefs of Staff. In January, he wrote an opinion essay for the New York Times about the impactful departure of Biden Chief of Staff Ron Klain, who is also a primary source in Whipple's latest book.

Whipple's book The Spy Masters (2021) describes the vast influence of CIA directors on U.S. history. "This book is part oral history and part old-fashioned storytelling," a reviewer for the Yale Alumni Magazine wrote in 2021. 

As a documentarian and producer, he has received Emmy awards and nominations for his work at ABC News, CBS News and Sixty Minutes.  

While at Yale, Whipple participated in the Yale Political Union, wrote for the New Journal, and played ice hockey. He majored in history. 

To register for the event (in person or via Zoom), click the link Scarsdale Library-June 3. To purchase the book online, click the link The Fight of His Life. (The library is located at 54 Olmsted Road.) Copies of the new book will be available for purchase at the event. Whipple will sign copies after he speaks.

In January, the Scarsdale Forum and Library and YWAA hosted Yale Law professor Akhil Reed Amar '80, '84 JD, who spoke about his latest book on the U.S. Constitution The Words That Made Us. Other speakers for the series have included Yale professors Paul Friedman, Laurie Santos, Meg Urry and Joanne Freeman. 

Prof. Amar: "The Words That Made Us"

Yale Law Prof. Akhil Reed Amar '80, '84 JD made a return trip to Scarsdale, Jan. 29, to present his latest book The Words That Made Us and try to convince his audience that understanding the meaning  of the U.S. Constitution was more important than the country's current attention on the results of the Eagles vs. 49ers, an NFL play-off football game that was played while he spoke in Westchester.  

In a lively 60-minute lecture and spirited 30-minute Q-and-A session, he stated his case and shared well-informed opinions on any current political issue or trend on the country's plate in 2023. He stated firmly U.S. citizens have a responsibility to learn and understand the U.S. Constitution. He referred to the U.S. signing of the Constitution in 1787 as the country's "Big Bang" event. 

Prof. Amar, a Sterling Professor of Law and Political Science and an acclaimed scholar on the topic, was a guest lecturer for the Scarsdale Forum and YWAA Speaker Series at the Scarsdale Library.   In 2016, he spoke at a similar YWAA-Scarsdale gathering, presenting his book The Law of the Land: A Grand Tour of the Constitutional Republic. At that time, he focused on the 2016 presidential election. 

At the Scarsdale lecture Jan. 29, Prof. Amar addressed the Constitution's importance and impact in 2023. As the worst of the pandemic disappears, Prof. Amar said he wanted to be the "virus" that infects U.S. citizens to encourage them to read, study and understand sections of the Constitution.  The Words that made the U.S. (the Constitution), he said--pun intended, are "the words that made us."

About 50 community members and Yale alumni attended the lecture in person; another 17 dialed in via Zoom. 

He highlighted the differences in what other popular Yale-graduate historians (Ron Chernow '70 and David McCullough '55) write about (American history) vs. what he teaches and writes about (American history and Constitution Law). 

For the alumni in the audience, he provided data to show the vast influence of Yale graduates in U.S. Government, based on top leadership positions in all three branches today and through history (U.S. Congress, Supreme Court and the U.S. Presidency). Many in those roles today, he appointed out, had been his students at Yale. 

To purchase the book, click The Words That Made Us.

For more about other speakers in the YWAA Lecture Series, click LECTURES.

Yale Law's Amar Returns to Scarsdale

 

Prof. Akhil Reed Amar is scheduled to present a lecture on his area of expertise, the U.S. Constitution, in Scarsdale, Sunday, Jan. 29 (Yale photo)

Yale Law School Professor Akhil Reed Amar '80, '84JD will return to Westchester to speak at the Scarsdale Forum in Scarsdale, N.Y., Sunday, Jan. 29, 2023, at 3 p.m. The event is co-sponsored by the Yale Westchester Alumni Association (YWAA) and is part of the Scarsdale Forum Sunday Speakers Series. 

The Scarsdale Public Library will host the event in its Scott Room (54 Olmsted Road). See link below for those who wish to join via Zoom. 

Prof. Amar, one of the most popular faculty members on campus and one of the most renowned scholars of the U.S. Constitution, has taught at Yale Law School since 1985. He has written numerous books on the Constitution and will discuss his most recent book, The Words That Made Us, his study of "America's constitutional conversation" from 1760-1840.

The event is open to all, including Yale alumni, families and friends, and will be streamed via Zoom.

Mark Spencer, reviewing the book in The Wall Street Journal described it as a "masterly synthesis of history and law." Reviewer Adam Cohen in The New York Times Book Review described the book, published in 2021, as a "deeply probing, highly readable study of America's (Constitution)."

Prof. Amar was also a guest speaker in the lecture series in May, 2016, when he focused on the upcoming presidential election in the U.S. in that year.

In his 2012 book, America's Unwritten Constitution: The Precedents and Principles We Live By, Prof. Amar claimed the Constitution must be read "as a whole rather than as a jumble of discrete clauses." In 2015, he wrote The Law of the Land: A Grand Tour of Our Constitutional Public.

He has written opinion pieces for The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Atlantic.

The YWAA lecture series the past decade has also hosted other prominent Yale professors, including Prof. Paul Freedman who spoke about the culinary and restaurant history in America (2019), Prof. Laurie Santos who outlined keys to happiness as part of her globally popular "Happiness" course at Yale (2019), Prof. Marc Lapadula who announced his list of the top six films that influenced the American film industry (2018), Hugh Price '66L who once led the National Urban League (2017), Prof. Joanne Freeman who chronicled "dirty stories" of American politics in the 1790s (2015), and Prof. Meg Urry who introduced her Westchester audience to the "black holes" of physics (2014).

For more about Prof. Amar's previous lecture and about the YWAA Lecture Series, click on the links below:

YWAA: Prof. Amar, the Constitution and the Presidential Election of 2016

YWAA Lecture Series

To participate via Zoom, click on the link to register:

Amar Zoom registration, Jan-29-2023-3pm

The Game 138: Westchester Celebrates

 

Yale and Harvard alumni and friends gathered in Mamaroneck for a Watch Party to view the 138th Game (YWAA photos)

An Ivy League title was at stake when Yale and Harvard confronted each other for The 138th Game. Yale's Team 149, as this year's version of the Bulldogs calls themselves, journeyed to old Harvard Stadium Nov. 19 with an agenda: Win the Ivy League outright. Take care of business.  (The 149 pays homage to a storied football history. This squad is Yale's 149th, dating back to the days of Walter Camp, leather helmets, and the birth of the forward pass.)

Yale Westchester, meanwhile, joined its Harvard counterpart alumni group in Westchester to host a Watch Party to view the game on national television (ESPNU). Dozens of Yale alumni groups across the country also cheered for the Bulldogs and toasted the team as it triumphed, 19-14, in Boston. Decadent Ales, a craft brewery in Mamaroneck, hosted the Westchester event. YWAA board members Hanna Kim and Tim Mattison, among others, helped organize the gathering. 

With cold winds blowing and the sun falling, Team 149 marched down the field late in The Game to assume a lead, 19-14, it held until the end. Meanwhile, in Westchester, YWAA took the lead in a different tally and eased to its own informal victory: Yale alumni and friends in attendance, 41. Harvard alumni and friends in attendance, 9. 

The Game 138: Yale's Winning Ways

After six years performing elsewhere, including a year when the teams experimented with an appearance at Boston's Fenway Park and another year when the Ivy League responded to the pandemic by not playing in 2020, The Game in 2022 returned to old Harvard Stadium.

The stadium is old, ancient, although it is marked by a few modern amenities. That includes a loud sound system that oddly cranks out pop and rap music and thumping beats in a historic setting that evokes 1922, instead of 2022.

In the 2022 Game (Nov. 19), much was on the line. Over 30,000 filled the stadium's seats. If online ticket agencies were a clue, demand for tickets were high (topping $200 for the best seats).  Tickets for Yale students sold out within hours. 

If Harvard beat Yale, there would be the possibility of a four-way tie for the Ivy League championship. While there's joy in winning a title, nobody wants to share an Ivy trophy with four hands touching it. So while 30,000 pairs of eyes watched The Game in person and another million or so in a national televised audience, many took peeks at what was going on in Princeton, while the Tigers battled Penn. 

Captained by Westchester's own Nick Gargiulo '23, a Somers native, this Yale team got down to the business of pummeling Harvard. (Somers High won a New York state championship in Gargiulo's junior year there.) 

Led by the elusive running and dart-throw passing of quarterback Nolan Grooms '25, the Elis punched the Cantabs round by round to take a 19-14 lead with a minute to go. 

Too many Yale fans know from history that a minute left in The Game can take what appears to be several weeks. Harvard comebacks take up too many chapters in the history of The Game. Recall last year's Game (with Harvard winning in the closing seconds). Recall 1968. Recall 1974.  

Fortunately with 24 seconds to go in This Game and with Harvard hoping to stage a memorable march down the field, the desperate Harvard quarterback panicked and flung a wobbly pass. Yale's Hamilton Moore '24 grabbed it, and The 138th Game was done. Moments later, Yale students swarmed the field as the sun dipped below the rugged stadium's rims. Yale players jumped up and down on the "H" inscription at midfield.

Meanwhile, some eyes peered southward toward New Jersey to check in on Princeton. Harvard had not staged the Comeback of the Day. Penn did, as the Quakers upset Princeton with seconds to go. 

That meant Yale won't allow any other Ivy squad to touch its new championship trophy.