Yale Bulletin and Calendar

August 29, 2003|Volume 32, Number 1|Two-Week Issue

Alumni group supports students' summer service

Three Yale students worked this summer to help young adults in Greater New Haven prepare for the job market, secure funding for music education and community outreach, and assist ex-offenders and at-risk youth to change their destinies, all under the sponsorship of the Yale Club of New Haven (YCNH).

They were among the scores of Yale students who worked for community and non-profit agencies in New Haven and in cities across the country with support from the University and its alumni groups.

Every year since 1990, YCNH's Community Relations Committee, working in partnership with the Association of Yale Alumni (AYA), has selected a non-profit, direct-service work organization in the New Haven area and provided housing and a stipend for an AYA Community Service Summer Fellow. YCNH also directly sponsors several Dwight Hall Summer interns, each of whom designs their own summer community service project in New Haven.

This year's YCNH-sponsored students were Yale College junior Carly Keidel, an AYA Summer Fellow; and sophomore Michael Smith and second-year School of Management (SOM) graduate student Kate Scorza Ingram, two of this year's Dwight Hall Summer Interns.

Keidel, a psychology major, spent her summer at the Connecticut Job Corps, a federally funded program that helps underprivileged 16- to 24-year-olds prepare for the job market. Students at Job Corps study for their high school equivalency degrees, learn trades and get their driver's licenses, while learning social skills and appropriate workplace behavior. Job Corps is one of eight Yale Club at Dwight Hall partnerships offering volunteer placement for Yale Club members throughout the year.

According to Keidel, the best part of her experience was "engaging with the students through tutoring, teaching classes (creative writing and performance art workshops) and one-on-one conversations about everyday life. These kids have given me some really new perspectives on the world and on the process of growing up, and I'm learning so much more from them about the diversity of life experiences than I ever anticipated."

Smith, a political science and sociology major, hopes to attend law school after graduating from Yale. He interned with Starting Over Inc., a program that works primarily with ex-offenders and at-risk youth, in an effort to give those without any options the opportunity for change. Smith assisted Starting Over in completing its 501(c)3 application and aided in obtaining corporate support for their clients, in the form of jobs.

Before coming to SOM, Ingram -- a graduate of Bryn Mawr College with a music degree -- worked at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. As a Dwight Hall Summer Intern, she continued her ongoing work with the New Haven Symphony Education Committee including grant writing, programming events for students, community outreach and production. Ingram notes that one highlight of her work there was providing artist hospitality services to internationally acclaimed conductor and composer Marvin Hamlisch at the Picnic in the Park Concert at Edgerton Park.

Charity ball

This fall, YCNH will sponsor a charity ball to benefit both the AYA Summer Fellowship and Dwight Hall Summer Internship Programs.

The semi-formal event will be held on Friday, Oct. 3, at the New Haven Lawn Club, 193 Whitney Ave. It will begin at 7:30 p.m. with a dessert and cash bar, and will feature a talk by Gaddis Smith, the Larned professor Emeritus of History, who will discuss the relationship between Yale and New Haven. The evening will also include dancing to live music and a silent auction. Tickets are $30; those who purchase $75 Patron tickets will have their names included in the program for the evening.

The YCNH is also seeking donations for the silent auction -- everything from gift certificates to local theaters and restaurants to donated services, wine, art, sports memorabilia, event passes and gift packages to vacation homes and trips.

For information on how to purchase a ticket, make a donation or volunteer for the event, contact Theresa Mester, YCNH administrator, at (203) 432-4435, or visit the website at www.yaleclubofnewhaven.com.

T H I SW E E K ' SS T O R I E S

A Message to the Yale Community

Refurbished Sprague Memorial Hall is an 'architectural . . . triumph'

Concerts celebrate the reopening of Sprague Hall

Professorship honors memory of Donald Cohen

Damaged law books are taken out of a deep freeze

Renowned neuroscientist Patricia Goldman-Rakic dies

Exhibit offers look at ancient forms of life on Earth

Wildfire costs are higher than accounted for, report charges

Computer-generated designs featured in architecture gallery

Artist's works portray Christianity through Thai art forms

Exhibit explores influences on American furniture design

Women veterans are found to be at higher risk for homelessness

Day of Caring drive will put books into hands of area children

Documentary on contemporary artists to be screened on campus

Alumni group supports students' summer service

Quest camera will aid scientists in astronomical research

Grant to Child Study Center supports evaluation of home-based care

Historian Jaroslav Pelikan is honored for contributions

Former Law School dean honored with the Fleming Award

'What Is a Good Death?' among topics of Bioethics Project programs