YWAA: 2020 Highlights

Like most around the country, the year 2020 for Yale alumni and for YWAA is divided into two parts: 

Life before Mar. 11 (that date when events in large scale were postponed suddenly across the nation and when we learned the pandemic was not going to be something that would go away before summer) and life after Mar. 11.

Before Mar. 11, events, activities, get-togethers, sports games, dinners, and reunions were humming along from season to season. After Mar. 11, what was normal and what had been taken for granted ceased abruptly.

Because they had discovered (or rediscovered or became better acquainted with) Zoom, Yale alumni groups, including YWAA, still found ways to resume some Yale activities--without assembling on campus in Commons or on Old Campus, without meeting at Yale Clubs (of New York), without gathering in person at local hotel ballrooms or garden clubs.

In abbreviated form, YWAA continued some activities after Mar. 11. The year in review is covered below.

Redhot and Blue in February

Yale's oldest co-ed a cappella group Redhot & Blue performed in concert in nearby Greenwich Feb. 22. The Yale group was joined by Greenwich's Off Sounders at the Christ Church.

Redhot and Blue, which turned 43 in 2020, has sung in the Westchester-Greenwich area regularly in recent years. The group was featured in concerts in Rye in Dec., 2015, Feb., 2017, Mar., 2018, and in Oct., 2018, at the Osborne Auditorium and at the invitation of late YWAA director Bill Nightingale '53. 

Yale Harvard hockey at Madison Square Garden

It wasn't supposed to pan out the way it did. This was supposed to be the third renewal of The Game on Ice at Madison Square Garden, having been titled "Rivalry on Ice" by non-Ivy League organizers. After Yale won the first two Rivalry games at MSG in front of excited, large crowds in 2014 and 2015, the Midtown Manhattan, right-after-the-holidays showdown went on hiatus for various reasons.

Organizers decided to try it again in 2020. Bring the euphoria of the The Football Game to men's ice hockey. Over 10,000 Yale and Harvard fans (mostly Yale) filled just about all of the lower bowl of the Garden and prepared for a fierce confrontation. Both schools brought their bands and their raucous cheers and laced the Garden in crimson and blue and the requisite "Y" or "H" banners and sweaters.

The Crimson scored a first goal. And then a second, a third, a fourth...The Bulldogs, coached by Keith Allain '80 (who presided over Yale's NCAA championship in the past decade), were shell-shocked. To their credit, most Yale fans stayed until the end, just hoping their team would plant one puck in the goal to avoid a shutout. Final score, Harvard 7, Yale 0. A Game to forget.

BK Munguia honored in Scarsdale

For their many years of service to the Scarsdale and Westchester communities, the Scarsdale Scarsdale Foundation announced in January it would honor YWAA board director B.K. Munguia '75 and her husband former Scarsdale mayor Jon Mark with the Scarsdale Bowl. They were joint recipients. The Foundation has given out the Bowl annually since 1943.

The award is given to a Scarsdale resident, who, according to the Foundation, "has given unselfishly of time, energy and effort to the civic welfare of the community." 

Munguia was honored for decades of service in Westchester, including her volunteer work at Scarsdale Heathcote School, the Scarsdale School Board, the Girl Scouts, and the Scarsdale Teen Center (where she served as president until its recent closing). She also chaired the Scarsdale Citizens Non-Partisan Campaign Committee. 

Mark served two terms as a Village Trustee and as mayor of Scarsdale. He has had leadership roles at the Scarsdale Citizens Nominating Committee, the Scarsdale Forum and the Non-Partisan Campaign Committee. 

Munguia has also been involved in Yale alumni activities for many years. Currently a YWAA board member and vice president, she has led many projects and events involving Yale, Yale alumni and Yale students. In recent years, she has organized Yale music events in the area, including inviting a cappella singing groups from Yale to perform in Westchester. 

Feb Club Emeritus, 2020

Over the years, informal Feb Club gatherings at pubs, bars and local clubs around the world have become a favorite event for Yale alumni--including those in Westchester. Westchester alumni hosted two Feb Club events in 2020. They were, believe it or not, real, live, in-person events before the pandemic engulfed us. 

There was  a Feb Club happy hour event for area alums in Irvington, N.Y. on Feb. 26 at La Chinita Poblana restaurant. Jen Kasoff '95 of Irvington and Krista Madsen '95 of Sleepy Hollow co-hosted.
Feb Club Emeritus went to Pleasantville at the Westchester Table Tennis Center  Feb. 21. Susan Kaminsky '86 hosted.

Feb Club in 2021? Expect another year of globally scattered, lively Yale alumni gatherings--but likely online.

YWAA Book Awards

Yale Westchester continued its tradition of celebrating outstanding high school students in the county by presenting its annual Book Awards this spring. YWAA board members awarded to students from dozens of area high schools. 

Each participating high school selected a junior deserving of the award. The broad criteria include excellence in academics, contributions in the community and outstanding participation in extracurricular activities. Students who receive the award do not have to express interest in applying to or attending Yale, but many choose to do so.

In 2020, each student received either the Yale Book of Quotations (Fred Shapiro, editor), Mapping the Heavens (Yale professor Privamvada Natarajan, author), or A Better Planet (Yale professor Daniel Esty, editor). 

Tim Mattison '73, YWAA president, and Peter Santhanam '85 Ph.D., YWAA board member, organized the program in 2020. Other YWAA board members coordinated with participating schools.

James Nicholas '19 seeks to go pro

In his bid to launch a professional golf career, Scarsdale native James Nicholas '19 in early June qualified for a Korn Ferry tour event. The event permits golfers like Nicholas to qualify over time for the PGA Tour. During a period of quarantine this spring, Nicholas spent his time in Florida preparing for the Korn Ferry events and practicing in Palm Beach Gardens, Fl.

The Korn Ferry Tour identifies and develops young golfers to prepare them for the PGA Tour. About 75% of current PGA professionals graduated from the tour, established in 1990. The top 25 finishers in the Korn Ferry Tour each year qualify to play at the PGA level the following year.

Nicholas is best known in Westchester athletics circles has having been the area's top high school golfer while attending Scarsdale High School.  At Yale, he started out in football and golf, but eventually settled on a storied four-year golf career in New Haven. He accumulated bundles of titles, trophies and honors. He earned Ivy League player-of-the-year honors in his junior and senior season and competed for NCAA titles. 

Tyler Miles '20, YWAA summer intern

As part of an annual sponsorship by YWAA, Tyler Miles '20 completed an internship this past summer shortly after his graduation from Yale. Each summer YWAA funds a designated Yale student who performs an internship in community service.

A native of Wilmington, Del., and a member of Yale's Saybrook College, Miles worked this past summer as an intern at the Bronx Defenders MOIA ("Mentorship, Organizing, Investigation and Advocacy"). The organization is an advocacy group involved in public defense work. 

During the summer, Miles worked on projects in community organizing and in LGBTQ+ defense. He also contributed research for a national LGBTQ+ conference on rights of trans and gender non-confirming prisoners (Lavender Law). Some project activity involved preparing "Know Your Rights" and training materials.

YWAA Years in Review

Click the year to review summary highlights of events, performances, and activities sponsored by YWAA in the past. 

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

Tracy Williams 

YWAA Highlights, 2019

Lectures from Yale professors, a cappella concerts from Yale groups, drama at Boscobel, honors for Westchester athletes and book awards for top Westchester high school students. In 2019, YWAA finished another year filled with favorite and popular activities and old traditions. 

The calendar of events appears familiar, but each year brings something unique and memorable. That might include Yale professor Laurie Santos' spellbinding talk on the secrets of happiness to a large Chappaqua audience or Yale singing groups filling the concert hall with thrilling a cappella sounds, also in Chappaqua. 

YWAA highlights of 2019 are summarized below. (Click Past Highlights to review the same from 2013-18). 

A CAPPELLA IN CHAPPAQUA

The New Blue and Spizzwinks performed in Chappaqua in February (YWAA photos)

A cappella singing is as much a Yale tradition as witnessing Yale-Harvard football games in the Bowl, making treks up Science Hill or sneaking for dessert treats at Durfee Sweet Shoppe. A cappella concerts are also popular in Westchester among Yale alumni and community guests. As part of an ongoing program, YWAA invites Yale groups to Westchester to celebrate the music and to pay tribute to Westchester students in current groups. 

In 2019, the Spizzwinks and New Blue performed in Chappaqua in February before a Sunday afternoon crowd of Yale alumni and Westchester music fans. Two groups from Chappaqua's Horace Greeley High School preceded the Yale collegians. The Spizzwinks returned to the area for the third time since 2013. They sang favorite renditions of "Once in My Life," "No Regrets," and the Yale football medley.  Having turned 50 years old this year, the 2018-19 New Blue included four students from Westchester. 

Also in 2019, the Whiffenpoofs, featuring a female singer in its troop for the second straight year, sang at a concert at Grace Episcopal Church in White Plains in November. The same Whiffs are headed to Singapore and Taiwan for concerts in Asia for the 2020 spring break. 

THE ROAD TO HAPPINESS

YWAA director Rich Fabbro introduces Yale "Happiness" Professor Laurie Santos, who delivered a one-hour version of her popular course in Chappaqua in March (YWAA photos)

Laurie Santos, Yale professor of psychology and Head of Silliman College, has garnered much attention the past year because of the popularity of her "Happiness" course in New Haven, which has attracted over a thousand students.  Students have crashed through lecture-hall doors to get a seat in a course that is supposed to guide them through a hectic college life and help them seek contentment as they approach adulthood. Students and the media may call the course "Happiness," but it has an official Yale course-listing name:  "Psychology and the Good Life."

YWAA brought the course to Chappaqua in 2019, inviting Santos to speak to a Westchester audience (and an older crowd) about the pursuit of happiness at a later stage in life. The session (one hour, not for a semester) proved to be one of the most well-attended YWAA-sponsored lectures ever. 

Santos, who after her talk departed Chappaqua for a national spring-break tour on the topic, provided her Westchester "students" ten pointers. Tip No. 2?  "Our life circumstances don't matter as much as you think."  Tip No. 3?  "You can become happier, but it takes work and daily effort."

CYRANO AT BOSCOBEL

YWAA annually hosts a Shakespeare outing at Boscobel in Garrison, associated with productions of the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival.  The annual YWAA event includes a thought-provoking lecture from Yale Shakespeare expert Murray Biggs. 

Biggs returned to Boscobel this year in August, and his pre-performance lecture once again stirred up emotions and sparked enthusiasm about the play Yale guests would see that evening. This year, Shakespeare wasn't the featured show. Cyrano seized that honor. The Hudson Valley performers presented a loose, colorfully interpreted drama of the life of the French novelist Cyrano de Bergerac. 

As usual, the Sunday affair was enhanced by green, scenic views of a late-summer Hudson River in the background and by an opportunity for Yale guests to relax on the Boscobel grounds with a picnic with friends. 

Yale's Murray Biggs, always a favorite among YWAA guests at Boscobel, returned to speak about Cyrano in August (YWAA photos)

AMERICAN CUISINE EXPLAINED

Yale Professor Paul Freedman, now a national expert on American cuisine and restaurants, talked about his new book in Scarsdale in November (YWAA photos)

In 2019, Paul Freedman, Yale professor of medieval history, followed up his popular book probing the history of the ten most influential American restaurants with another one examining food culture in the U.S.: American Cuisine: How It Got This Way. Just as he did in Mar., 2017, Freedman returned to Westchester as a guest lecturer Oct., 2019, as part of the YWAA speaker series.

At the Scarsdale Library, Freedman explained to his Yale and community guests how eggplant parmesan was created in the U.S., not in Italy, how American cuisine developed from Americans' objectives to adapt food habits to hectic lifestyles, and how generations of Americans grew up with dry cereals for breakfast and TV dinners in the evening. But he praised recent developments in Americans' efforts to improve the cuisine and make it more healthy--and more tasty.

WESTCHESTER B-BALLERS HONORED

Yale's John L. Lee and Barbara Liebowitz Bettigole were honored as legends during halftime of the Yale-Princeton men's game in the Ivy League basketball tournament in New Haven in March

In March, Yale hosted the third annual Ivy League basketball tournament in New Haven and emerged as the Ivy champion with a berth in the men's NCAA tournament. During the Ivy tournament, the League, as it does each spring, honored a few of its legends. This year the team of legends included past Westchester resident John J. Lee '58, '59 Eng. and Westchester alumna Barbara Leibowitz Bettigole '78, two of the most outstanding basketball players in Yale history. Their stories were told during an intermission at the tournament, and they will join the list of previously honored legends.

Lee, for whom the Yale basketball amphitheater is named, departed Yale after three varsity seasons with a 20.3 ppg average and after leading the Elis to a spot in the 1957 NCAA tournament.  (While at Yale, Sports Illustrated put him on its cover to tell a national audience about his Ivy feats.

Leibowitz Bettigole (widely known as "Liebo" while at Yale) was a pioneer in women's basketball and women's sports at Yale, when women were beginning to make a strong mark in athletics on campus. She scored 1,046 points while at Yale, leading the team in scoring three years.  In Westchester, she set similar records while playing three sports for Byram Hills High School in Armonk.

At the 2018 tournament at Penn's Palestra, Scarsdale native Earl "Butch" Graves '84 was honored as an Ivy legend.

THE IVY LEAGUE'S BEST GOLFER

James Nicholas '19 excelled in many sports while at Scarsdale High School--football, golf, and hockey. By the time he was a sophomore at Yale, he had decisions to make. He decided to concentrate on golf. 

By the time he was a senior, he had been named the Ivy League's golfer of the year twice after winning Ivy individual championships.  He also served as golf-team captain as a senior in 2019. 

THE MAJOR LEAGUE CALLS

Kumar Nambiar '19 and Griffin Dey '19, two baseball standouts when they played in high school in Westchester, helped Yale to two Ivy titles during their years in New Haven. 

Shortly after they graduated, they were both drafted by major league teams.  Nambiar, a left-handed pitcher from Mamaroneck, struck out 162 batters in his Yale career and was drafted in June by the Oakland A's.  Dey, drafted by the Detroit Tigers, is from Pound Ridge and was best known for his power hitting while at Yale. He hit 26 home runs in his career, second on the all-time Yale list. 

REMEMBERING BILL

Bill Nightingale, doing what he enjoys and doing it for decades, helped lead the YWAA debate program (YWAA photos)

YWAA lost one of its most devoted and beloved leaders in 2019. William "Bill" Nightingale, who for decades helped lead the YWAA debate program and who arguably attended or led more alumni events than anybody can count. He died suddenly in October after attending an event at the Yale Club of New York.

Until his death and for decades, Bill often planned his days and calendars around Yale, Yale alumni activities, his Class of 1953, and Yale Westchester.

Bill served all possible roles while leading YWAA debate--organizer, planner, emcee, dinner host, and liaison with high school and college teams. For YWAA, he invited a cappella groups to the area, hosting them and celebrating what makes a cappella special. Bill, a devout fan of the American song book, hosted other YWAA music events, too.

Bill was an eager champion for the Yale Alumni Schools Committee, where he helped organize alumni interviews for decades. Like no other alumnus, he pushed for significant Westchester representation in each first-year class at Yale. He interviewed applicants and marshalled their candidacies through the process. He unabashedly rooted for Westchester students to find places on the Old Campus.

Bill was involved beyond Westchester, too, accumulating awards, positions, and committee memberships for anything that would push the Yale agenda ahead of, say, Harvard and Princeton, as he would say. He nudged presidents and admissions officers. He made calls to New Haven and bugged alumni to come join his administrative efforts. He wore a navy Yale cap when he ventured outside or attended a Yale event in and out of New Haven.

Bill wrote checks and contributed funds to any reasonable, Yale-oriented, fund-raising campaign. Even up to the week of his passing, Bill always showed up, made an appearance, voiced his opinion and offered a joke to lighten a too-formal setting. At events, Bill emceed and made sure to cite all who contributed or helped in some way. He always found a way or an excuse to communicate with New Haven to advise presidents, AYA executive directors and heads of admissions.

Bill best exhibited "...and for Yale."

YWAA: Year in Review, 2018

Hugh Price '66 Law addressed Westchester residents in January at the Jay Heritage Center in Rye, reflecting on a career in civil rights and as leader of the National Urban Leaqgue

Under the leadership of president Tim Mattison '73, YWAA continued to engage Yale alumni, families and community members in 2018 with a series of events--both old and new, including traditional activities, student debate, community service, Shakespeare, and the popular lecture series from Yale professors. 

CIVIL RIGHTS, COMMUNITY SERVICE, MEN'S HOOPS

Hugh Price '66 Law addressed the Westchester community at the Jay Heritage Center in Rye, Jan. 15, where he reflected on his long career in civil rights.  Price served as CEO of the National Urban League from 1994-2003.  In 2017, he published his memoirs This African-American Life, which recounts his days growing up in Washington, D.C., his time in New Haven as a Yale Law student and as a community leader, and his tenure at the Urban League.  

Suzanne Cleary '83, president of the Jay Heritage Center, co-hosted the event, the Annual Literary Tea. 

In January, Maggie Favretti '85, who retired this year from the faculty at Scarsdale High School, received the Thomas Sobol Award for community service for continuing leadership of the Scarsdale Sustainable Garden Project.  The garden has produced thousands of pounds of food donated to food pantries in the Westchester area.

Scarsdale students and others in the community clean, plant, and harvest the garden each year. In 2018, Favretti and her Scarsdale high school crew again sponsored the garden as a Yale Day of Service event in May. She has received other awards for the garden and for other service activities at Scarsdale High School, where she taught social studies. 

Yale men's basketball once again finished as one of the top four team in the Ivy League and earned a berth at the Ivy basketball tournament at Penn in Philadelphia, Mar. 11.  Yale lost to Penn during the tournament, but during an intermission of its game, the League honored Scarsdale native Earl "Butch" Graves, Jr., '84 as one of the best Ivy League players ever.  

At Yale, Graves scored 2,090 points from 1980-84 and captained the 1983-84 squad.  Graves was a standout at Scarsdale High School before he performed at Yale. 

BOOK AWARDS, THE WHIFFS, NEW STUDENTS RECEPTION

Peter Santhanam '85 Ph.d., YWAA board member, once again led the Westchester Yale Book Awards program, which recognizes top students in the junior class at Westchester area high schools.  In 2018, the program presented awards to over 50 students, who received a copy of Yale Law School's Fred Schapiro's The Yale Book of Quotations.  

Danny Keller '18 of Rye sang as a baritone with the The Whiffenpoofs of Yale and got the opportunity to sing in his hometown when the The Whiffs appeared at the Rye Presbyterian Church Apr. 15.  Keller also served as business manager and announcer for the group. 

YWAA and the Yale Westchester Alumni Schools Committee hosted admitted students in Bronxville at the annual Admitted Students Reception Apr. 11. A record 35,206 high school students, including a few hundred from Westchester, applied to the Yale Class of 2022.  Admissions official Debra Johns and three current Yale students were panelists and allowed admitted students in Westchester and their parents to ask questions about the Yale experience. 

David Shimer '18 of Chappaqua and Kaitlin Cardon '20 of White Plains responded to questions about student life, residential colleges, trips abroad, and favorite Yale cuisine.  Shimer was an editor in chief of the Yale Daily News, earned B.A. and M.A. degrees in history, and had just been awarded a Marshall Scholarship to study at Oxford.  Cardon, a resident of Timothy Dwight College, recounted her travels abroad as a student in Morocco and her experience as an R.O.T.C. student.

(William Primps '71 concluded his years as leader the Westchester alumni-interview program in 2018.  Dana Sands '83, YWAA board member, assumes his position as Chair.)

DAY OF SERVICE, LACROSSE CHAMPIONSHIP, FILM LECTURE, SHAKESPEARE AT BOSCOBEL 

For Yale's annual Day of Service May 12, Yale alumni sponsored events around the world, and alumni, friends and family members volunteered for a day to serve the community in unique ways. In Westchester, Jason Sandler '16 M.D. and Yang Li '12 hosted a Habitat for Humanity site, where volunteers helped build a house in Yonkers.  

The Yonkers project was the first time it participated in Yale Day of Service. The Scarsdale Sustainable Garden Project hosted volunteers May 19. 

In June, Yale's men's lacrosse team defeated Duke to win the NCAA national championship before 30,000 lax fans in Foxboro, Mass.  It was the Bulldogs' first title, although Yale records show Yale winning a championship in 1883 before the existence of the NCAA. 

Ben Reeves '18, team captain, scored 62 goals during the season.  The team also featured four members from the Westchester area:  Aidan Hynes '20, who played at Mahopac High School; Ted Forst '19 and Owen Jones '18, who both helped Bronxville High School win a state championship, and Will Cabrera '21 of Scarsdale.  Yale finished its championship year with a 17-3 record. 

Marc Lapadula, Yale professor of screenwriting, presented a lecture in Chappaqua as part of the YWAA Lecture Series, coordinated by YWAA board member Rich Fabbro '76.  Before about 80 invited Yale guests, Lapadula named and explained his list of the most important films in American history.  His list included the following:

The Jazz Singer
I Am a Fugitive From a Chain Gang
The Graduate
Easy Rider
Jaws

Philadelphia

At Boscobel in Garrison, YWAA hosted its annual outing at the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival Aug. 19.  Richard II was the performance for the evening, and once again Murray Biggs, Yale lecturer in Shakespeare, returned to lecture on the play and prep Yale alumni and guests for the show under the big white tent along the Hudson River. 

In years past, YWAA-Boscobel has hosted outings of such performances as The General from America, Macbeth, Othello, The Winter's Tale, All's Well That Ends Well, and Hamlet.

LIN EXHIBITION, DEBATE, RED HOT & BLUE, THE GAME AT FENWAY

Maya Lin '81, '86 Arch., best known for her design of the Viet Nam Memorial in Washington, who continues to produce work around the world from her home base in Westchester, is presenting an exhibition through Jan., 2019, "A River Is a Drawing," in Yonkers. 

The exhibition at the Hudson River Museum pays homage to the Hudson River. It features several works from Lin, all with themes recognizing the history and importance of the river or using the river as a background or setting. 

William Nightingale '53 and Dana Sands '83, YWAA board members, led the 22nd annual Westchester Debate Competition Oct. 26. This year, the German International School hosted college and high school teams in White Plains.  

With socialism vs. capitalism being the topic for the evening, Yale's debate team faced off against Princeton and emerged the winner of the college competition.  Rye native Charlie Barton participated for Yale. Yale also defeated Princeton in 2014, 2015, and 2017. Harrison High School won the high school round.

Yale's oldest co-ed, a cappella group, Red, Hot & Blue, which celebrated its 40th anniversary last year, sang in Westchester in Rye at the Osborne (Retirement Community) Auditorium, Oct. 19. The Yale singers were joined by the Princeton Wildcats, Princeton's highly regarded women's a cappella group.

YWAA board member William Nightingale '53 organized the affair. Both groups from Princeton and Yale sang selections in jazz, pop and the American songbook.

Red, Hot & Blue previously sang at the Osborne three other times, including a concert this past March and concerts in 2015 and 2017. The group celebrated its 40th last year with tours to France, Seattle, China and Puerto Rico. Next semester it plans concerts in Brazil and Washington, D.C.

Harvard organizers of The Game in 2018 decided to try something different.  Yale-vs.-Harvard in football for the 135th time was moved from Harvard Stadium to baseball's storied Fenway Park in downtown Boston.  

The baseball diamond was redesigned into a football grid-iron, and 34,000-plus Yale and Harvard fans squeezed into the ancient park to witness the Bulldogs vs. Crimson, both with winning records but not enough to share an Ivy championship with Princeton. 

Yale kept it close, but Harvard escaped late to surge to a 45-27 victory in a game Yale "should've and could've" won. Fenway, after all, proved to be a museum-piece of a setting in the middle of the Boston skyline.

In 2019,  first up on the YWAA schedule is a double-header a cappella concert Sunday, Feb. 2 (1 pm) featuring Yale's Spizzwinks and the New Blue at Horace Greeley High School in Chappaqua.  Details will follow.

For YWAA highlights and summaries in past years (from 2013-2017), click HIGHLIGHTS. 

Red, Hot & Blue, Yale's oldest a cappella group, performed twice in Westchester in Rye in 2018 (YWAA photo)

Scarsdale native Earl Graves, Jr., '84, received an award as one of the top players in the history of Ivy League basketball during the Ivy League basketball tournament in March in Philadelphia (YWAA photos)

David Shimer '18 from Chappaqua and Kaitlin Cardon '20 from White Plains returned to Westchester as guest panelists at the annual YWAA and ASC admitted-students reception in April (YWAA photos)

Yale's men's lacrosse team won the NCAA national championship in June by defeating Duke in Foxboro, Mass. The team included four Westchester residents. (Yale Athletics photo)

In a lecture as part of the YWAA Series, Marc Lapadula, Yale professor of screenwriting, listed his most important films in American history for the audience in Chappaqua (YWAA photos)

YWAA returned to Boscobel in August for a performance of Shakespeare's Richard III. Yale lecturer Murray Biggs spoke to Yale alumni and guests before the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival actors took the stage

Maya Lin '81, '86 Arch. presented an exhibition paying homage to the Hudson River, "A River Is a Drawing." The showing lasts through Jan., 2019, in Yonkers

In White Plains in October, Yale met Princeton again in college debate as part of the annual Westchester competition.  Six high school teams followed. (YWAA photo)

In the 135th Game, Yale and Harvard clashed, but this time in baseball's Fenway Park in downtown Boston. Harvard found a way to win, 45-27. (YWAA photos)

YWAA Highlights, 2017

In Ardsley in November, the Westchester debate competition featured a Yale-Princeton square-off and six high schools competing in later rounds. (YWAA photos)

YWAA Highlights, 2017

The year 2017 at YWAA included the traditional, the historical, the usual, something theatrical, something academic, and even something for Westchester alumni who want to know about eclectic, game-changing American restaurants. 

Alumni contributed, served, organized, worked, interviewed, and were honored. Some ventured back to campus for alumni activities, meetings, and assemblies. They slipped back to tailgate at a football game, witness the recent success of Yale basketball, or sample yet again "world's best" New Haven pizza all across town. 

Students returned to Westchester to debate, recruit, or simply rest from the non-stop flurry of college activity, Yale style.  A quartet of baseball teammates from Westchester helped lead the Yale squad to an Ivy championship. And Westchester students won prestigious awards.

From the arts to community service, from the sciences to athletic feats, shall we dare acknowledge it was just another eventful year among Yale students and alumni, including those with ties to Westchester?

In February, the Yale a cappella group Red Hot & Blue joined a group from Princeton to perform a concert at the Osborne in Rye.  The Yale singers celebrated a 40th anniversary and toured France and Puerto Rico in 2017.  YWAA board member Bill Nightingale '53 organized the event.

Also in February, the unique Yale tradition of celebrating the doldrums of mid-winter with Yale-organized dinners and drink-ups, Feb Club Emeritus, continued with Yale gatherings around the world. There is no purpose behind Feb Club except to convene Yale alumni at any site on the globe and celebrate Yale ties--on any day in February. The tradition endures.  Krista Madsen '95 organized the Westchester Feb Club in Sleepy Hollow.

In March, Yale-Greenwich invited Westchester alumni to hear Yale president Peter Salovey '86 Ph.D. speak about current Yale topics. With the planned opening of two new residential colleges and new facilities at the School of Music and the renaming of Calhoun College to Hopper College, Salovey and Connecticut-Westchester alumni had much to discuss during the evening.

The two new colleges, Franklin and Pauli Murray, opened in the fall and helped push the center of gravity on campus from Bass Library to the edge of Science Hill. 

In 2016, Yale's men's basketball ignited March Madness in the NCAA tourney with a shocking win over Baylor and a near earth-shaking upset of Duke. In March, 2017, the team earned a spot in the inaugural Ivy League tournament in Philadelphia. In front of a crowd of Yale supporters who drove down from the Tri-State area, it lost to Princeton in the finals and didn't get an invite to the tournament. Regarded a success, the Ivy tourney returns to Penn's campus in Mar., 2018.

May highlights another Yale-alumni tradition, a time where Yale alumni galvanize each other to  champion community service:  Yale Day of Service.  YWAA and Yale alumni sponsored three volunteer events in the Westchester region. Yale-Westchester Day of Service, for the past several years, has revolved around the eager leadership of Maggie Favretti '85 and Susan Kaminsky '86.  Favretti once again coordinated the activities at the Scarsdale community garden.  Kaminsky organized volunteers at the Briarcliff Manor SCPA. 

Yale history professor Paul Friedman was the featured speaker at the YWAA speaker series, where a Yale faculty member is invited to speak to alumni and guests about a current social or political topic or about recent academic research and interests. Friedman spoke at the Scarsdale Library in March, but he didn't lecture about his specialty in medieval history.  

He had just published a well-received book about the 10 restaurants that have the greatest impact on American dining.  Not the 10 best, he reminded his Scarsdale audience, but the 10 most influential.  The book, Ten Restaurants That Changed America, included such restaurants as Howard Johnson's, Sylvia's in Harlem, The Four Seasons, and Delmonico's in Manhattan.  YWAA board treasurer Rich Fabbro '76 organized the event.

In April, YWAA, along with the Westchester Alumni Schools Committee, hosted the annual reception for newly admitted Yale-Westchester students in Bronxville.  This year was unusual, because in the Class of 2021, Yale admitted its largest first-year class ever. The traditional 1,350 newcomers to New Haven has risen to a count of 1,600-plus.

At the reception, the new admits meet current Yale students and an admissions director, share stories about the hectic process to gain admission, and discuss why they might choose Yale over, say, that other school near Boston. Westchester ASC director William Primps '71 led the event.

Under the guidance of Peter Santhanam '85 Ph.D., YWAA again sponsored the Yale Book Awards, which highlights the achievements of Westchester high school students.  Winners of the award receive the book The Yale Book of Quotations (Fred Shapiro, Law Faculty, editor). They were selected by their respective high schools, typically for accomplishments in academics and community service. In 2017, YWAA presented 51 awards.

On athletic fields, Westchester's greatest presence is in baseball. Four Westchester players were significant contributors to the Yale team's blazing success in 2017.  The Bulldogs, thanks in part to pitching, hitting, fielding and captaining from the Westchester quartet, won the Ivy League championship and earned a berth in the NCAA tournament. 

Pound Ridge's Richard Slenker '17 captained the team and pounded out doubles and singles routinely for four years (accumulating over 185 total hits and hitting .330.). Tim DeGraw '19, a speedy wide receiver during his football days at Rye High School, was swift on the base paths at Yale and just as fleet in roaming the outfield. He batted over .300 and stole more than a dozen bases.  Kumar Nambiar '19 of Mamaroneck and Griffen Dey '19, also of Pound Ridge, were stalwarts on the mound.

Maggie Favretti '85, who spearheads efforts at the Scarsdale community garden, was honored this summer for other activities she helps lead at Scarsdale High School.  The Sousa Mendes Foundation, based in New York, cited Favretti for encouraging students at the school to start an organization, Students for Refugees, a group that supports refugee efforts around the world and informs Westchester students and residents about the plight of refugees, particularly those from Syria.  The group started in 2015 and has launched chapters at other area high schools.

YWAA returned to Boscobel in August. On the docket was a play not written by Shakespeare, but still performed by the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival. Yale alumni, family, guests and friends saw Richard Nelson's The General from America, an account of Benedict Arnold's defection to the British army--which occurred in historyi not far from the Boscobel tent setting.

YWAA's Sunday outing at Boscobel traditionally includes the pre-performance lecture from Yale professor Murray Biggs, who rallies Yale alumni and guests with bits of history, lots of insight, and bundles of energy about the performance they will see.  Biggs specializes in Shakespeare drama  and still stirred the Yale group on the history of Benedict Arnold on the Hudson. Rich Fabbro '76 coordinated the outing this year.

When the first days of November arrive, when the leaves are whisking in the wind, and when darkness arrives too early, it's debate time at YWAA. Yale and selected Ivy teams compete and are followed by the annual contest among six high schools. The YWAA Debate Competition in Nov., about to enter its third decade, featured a showdown this Nov., 2017, between Yale and Princeton.

Ardsley High School, proving it could attract a crowd of students, parents, and alumni on a fall Friday evening, hosted the event again.  The Yale debate duo bounced back from a Princeton defeat in 2016 to win this year.  High school teams followed and tackled topics such as free speech, immigration laws, and voting requirements.  Blind Brook, which hosted the competition in 2013, was the high school winner this year.

Dana Sands '83 and Bill Nightingale '53 were instrumental in organizing the event--along with Princeton's Westchester group. Prizes and scholarships are funded in part from YWAA's William Nightingale Debate Fund.

The Game was back in New Haven in 2017.  Two years ago, The Game--Harvard vs. Yale in football--turned into a Harvard rout, although annals will record it as the first game where the Yale Bowl had to turn temporary lights on (in the second half).  Last year in Boston, thousands of Yale fans swarmed the artificial turf at Harvard Stadium to celebrate Yale's first win over the Cantabs in 10 years. In 2017, it was Yale's Game, not much in doubt after the first quarter.  This year, with rain threatening and the sun never bothering to show up, thousands of Yale fans swarmed the Yale Bowl's torn-up, ragged turf to celebrate a 24-3 win.

Off the fields and in Yale labs and classrooms, Westchester students shined and earned nationally and international acclaim. David Shimer '18, a Yale Daily News editor in chief and Chappaqua native, was one of three Yale seniors to earn a Marshall scholarship. He will study history at Oxford.  Scarsdale's Lauren Singer '21 was honored by WebMD, the medical information website, for her years of work in autism. 

The lineup in 2018 will include the familiar (Yale Day of Service, a speaker invited from Yale, Boscobel, and debate), and it might yield a variation of a familiar theme or something new and different--more honors, new community-service sites, new events, and a new class of Westchester students bound for Yale.

Happy holidays!

(Click Highlights to review summaries from 2013-16.)

Yale baseball won an Ivy League championship--thanks in part to invaluable contributions from a quartet of Westchester teammates (Yale Athletics photos)

In Scarsdale, Yale professor Paul Friedman shared insights for how he picked the 10 restaurants that changed America (YWAA photos)

YWAA Highlights, 2016

The annual Westchester Debate featuring Yale and Princeton capped off YWAA's eventful 2016 (YWAA photos).

Applaud the students, staff members, parents and area high-school students at Ardsley in November. The auditorium was filled to the back rows, and the cheers were lively, spirited, as college and high-school debaters jousted, at least verbally, on a Friday night in Westchester.

The event was the annual Westchester Debate Competition, featuring Yale vs. Princeton, and it capped another eventful year for YWAA.  As Westchester tradition requires, co-organizer Bill Nightingale '53 welcomed guests, tossed in a few Nightingale one-liners, and encouraged participants to give their best shots.  Richard Bradley '86 moderated, while co-organizer Susan Kaminsky '86 made sure the event started on time and proceeded swiftly.

It turned out to be one of the best-attended debates in years, and Ardsley and other schools jumped at the opportunity to volunteer to be hosts for Debate, 2017.

Unfortunate for Yale alumni in Westchester, Princeton won the college round, halting Yale's two-year streak.  Horace Greeley won the high-school nightcap.

Besides the debate, YWAA's year included a calendar filled with events, speakers and service. Westchester athletes excelled on fields, turf, and courts--in baseball, swimming, squash, and soccer. Yale College Dean Jonathan Holloway '95 Ph.D. tore himself away from New Haven duties to come to Rye Brook to describe a campus in the midst of heavy dialogue about free speech and about names that adorn residential colleges.

At the start of 2016, Westchester again participated in that unique Yale-alumni affair, Feb Club, where alumni gather around the world for revelry, song and no other reason than to spice up the dreary weeks of winter.  Krista Madsen '95 hosted Feb Club-Westchester in Tarrytown for the second straight year.

In April, Grant Herreid, artistic director of the Baroque Opera Project at Yale, returned to Westchester with his musicians to perform music from the 17th and 18th centuries at the Jay Heritage Center in Rye. Suzanne Clary '83 is the president of the trustee board at the Center, which has hosted other concerts and lectures with YWAA in the past.

Claudia Rosenthal '08 '14MMus, the rapidly rising opera star from Edgemont now in residence at the Pittsburgh Opera, was a winner of the George London Foundation prize that recognizes young singers from America and Canada. Later in the year, she performed a rare feat in Pittsburgh by singing two roles at once, when a featured performer got sick on the same day. "I got this," she said she told herself before the performance.

Alumni College, AYA's program that arranges for Yale professors to teach seminars for alumni, came to Rye in April and held classes in psychology and the introduction to C.G. Jung, taught by alumnus Kendrick Morris '77MDiv.

After 54 years of  knowing nothing about the euphoria of March Madness, Yale men's basketball shocked the NCAA world by defeating Baylor in the first round of the national tournament. Two days later, it scared the wits out of mighty Duke in Providence in a game where Yale became national darlings--at least for one Saturday afternoon.

Meanwhile, Yale men's squash nudged its way to win a national championship on its home court.  Pierson Broadwater '18 of Bronxville was among the Yale participants that defeated Rochester, 5-4, for Yale's first national title in the sport in 26 years.

Dean Holloway, who in late 2016 announced his departure from Yale to become Northwestern's provost, spoke to Westchester and Greenwich alumni in March in Rye Brook.  He knew he couldn't avoid alumni questions about campus demonstrations, but asserted he wanted them to learn more about students' involvement in a new program he and others launched:  The Yale Civic Leadership Initiative, which helps students become better leaders in the community.

The Yale baseball team, including its quartet of Westchester stalwarts, ventured to Texas for three games to play Texas A&M in March. While in College Station, that grand ol' Yale captain from the 1940's, George H. W. Bush '48, appeared one day, spoke to the team and threw out of the first pitch.  It didn't matter that the Aggies beat Yale in all three games.  

Pound Ridge's Richard Slenker '17, in his third season, was one of the team's best hitters durng the season.   He was No. 1 or 2 in hits, doubles, RBI's and batting average.  In three years, he has a .316 career average.

In swimming, Scarsdale native Brian Hogan '16 was his team's captain and earned two All-Ivy honors, a first-team distinction for academics and a second-team honor for performance. 

In April, YWAA, along with admissions committee and Yale ASC, hosted the annual Bronxville reception for Westchester admitted students. It was a day of celebration, as parents and admitted students rejoiced and shared stories about the long trek to gain admissions at Yale.  Current Yale students on a panel boasted about their respective residential colleges and argued passionately that with a Yale admission congratulatory e-mail, there is no choice, but Yale.

If it's May, then it's Yale Day of Service (now in its eighth year).   YWAA leaders organized several sites where Yale alumni and friends volunteered for a weekend in the community. YWAA hosted sites in Rye, Mamaroneck, Scarsdale, and Kingston, and volunteers cleaned up gardens and parks, painted old ships, and prepared fun bags for children.

One of Yale's most popular professors in the law school, Akhil Reed Amar '80 '84JD, is arguably the country's best expert on the U.S. Constitution. YWAA invited him to lecture in Scarsdale in May, as part its regular series of bringing esteemed Yale faculty to Westchester to speak to alumni. 

This time Amar leaped at the opportunity to talk about the Constitution and the recent presidential election.  One alumnus said the night was like "a really good Yale lecture that had students hanging out after class for more questions and arguments."

The YWAA evening at Boscobel, year after year, is an annual highlight.  In August, Yale alumni and guests gathered for the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival's performance of MacBeth. YWAA board members Rich Fabbro '76 and Dan Leonard '76 organized the event.  Yale Shakespeare expert Murray Biggs provided insight and guidance for alumni at his annual lecture before the performance.

But this performance was different. It featured an all-women cast, and MacBeth was played by Yale alumna Maria Christina-Oliveras '01, who was once a student in a Biggs class at Yale.   She exhibited many talents--pantomiming violent scenes, singing when the script called for it, and expressing rage to the top of her lungs.

YWAA once again sponsored the annual Yale Book Award, honoring dozens of high-school juniors in the area for scholarship, achievement and service.  It sponsored again the Summer Fellowship Program. Yale student Claire Chang of Pleasantville was this year's recipient and worked this summer at the Sitka Local Foods Network in Alaska. 

Yale and Princeton debaters at Debate Night in Ardsley confronted a difficult topic in economics and politics.  Sophie Park '19 and Scarsdale's Michael Bogarty '19 represented Yale. The collegians  dissected the topic of free trade and international tariffs, and audience members spurred the clash, which was quite civil, polite compared to the year's Trump-Clinton showdowns. Judges reasoned Princeton should win this year.

At The Game in Boston in November, admit it.  Most fans expected another dreary outcome in Yale's match-up with Harvard.  The Bulldogs dragged themselves into Harvard Stadium with a losing record and sights on ending the dismal season quickly. But after a surprise onsides kick to start the second half, the Yale team and Yale crowd collectively turned heads and figured, "We can win this Game after all."  And triumph the Bulldogs did with freshman quarterback Kurt Rawlings leading the way.

Yale's 142nd football team featured no player from Westchester. But when the swarm of thousands of Yale students and alumni flooded the floor of Harvard Stadium, it surely included dozens of Westchester students and young alumni. For the past 10 years, Yale followers had to watch Harvard fans storm the field and dance on the turf. In 2016, it was Blue's time to prance in joy and taunt, "School on Monday!" (Harvard had school that Monday.)

May the spirit of the holiday season and hopes for the new year lift all Yalies here and everywhere.

Yale had a party on Harvard's stadium floor after beating the Crimson in November, 21-14 (YWAA photos).

At Boscobel in August, MacBeth was played by Yale alumna Maria Christina-Oliveras '01 (YWAA photos).

Yale professor Akhil Amar '80 '84JD lectured about the Constitution and the presidential election in Scarsdale in May (YWAA photos)

A panel of Yale students greeted the admitted students of Yale's Class of '20 at the Bronxville reception in May (YWAA photos).

Yale baseball, including four Westchester residents on the roster, visited Texas A&M in the spring and got the chance to meet Yale baseball captain George H.W. Bush '48 (Yale Athletics photos)