Yale Club of DC In-Person Event

Welcome to DC: Recent Yale Grad Happy Hour

Thursday, May 2, 2024

6:00pm-8:00pm

The Admiral 
1 Dupont Cir NW, Washington, DC 20036

Join us for our annual Welcome to DC Event at The Admiral on Thursday, May 2nd, 2024! Say hello to warm weather, fine florals, and DC’s prettiest season! 

There is no better way to celebrate the arrival of Spring than by connecting with fellow Yalies over drinks and comfort food. We have reserved The Admiral’s private bar and patio and will be offering an array of appetizers to celebrate the occasion. Each guest will be receiving a drink ticket at the door, so seats are limited. If you are interested in joining us, please make sure to sign up using the link provided. Yale alums only.

Yale Day of Service: Turkey Run Park Clean-Up!

Join Fellow Yalies for Yale Day Of Service - Turkey Run Park Clean-up on May 11! 

Come join fellow DC-area Yalies for a Yale Day of Service event supporting Potomac Conservancy's May 11 cleanup at Turkey Run Park in McLean, Virginia, from 9 AM - 11 AM.

The event lead, Josh Clapper '16, will be at the event from 8:45 am, wearing his favorite Yale paraphernalia for easy identification! 

Volunteers under 18 are welcome as long as they have a guardian with them. 

After the clean-up, please feel free to stop by at Sweet Leaf in McLean (1359 Old Chain Bridge Rd, McLean, VA 22101) if you feel like a coffee, a light bite, or whatever strikes your fancy with some fellow Yalies. 

To read more about the event and RSVP, please click here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/potomac-river-cleanup-at-turkey-run-va-tickets-700815216177 

Please note the event is capped at 50 people, including non-Yalies who may sign up. So please register ASAP! 

Any questions, please contact Josh Clapper at [email protected].

Earth Month Meets Yale Day of Service: Join Our Recycling Drive!

Please join the Yale Club of Washington, DC’s April-May Recycling Drive, one of this year’s Yale Day of Service events. We’re kicking off the recycling drive in April to honor Earth Month. Our goal is to encourage all of us to become better stewards of our planet by doing a better job recycling -- especially the items that are hard to recycle and can't just be put in your curbside bin.

Our Recycling Drive is focused on six categories of products:

  1. Buttons (no longer attached to textiles)
  2. Clean socks, no matter how big the holes are!
  3. Clean styrofoam (please remove any food waste, plastic or tape)
  4. Packing peanuts (they are recycled differently than stryofoam in our region)
  5. Eyewear (broken spectacles, safety glasses, sunglasses, glasses, ski goggles and swim goggles; NO CASES, CHAINS, CONTACT LENS PRODUCTS, EYEWEAR CLEANING PRODUCTS)
  6. Office supplies: (pens, markers, binder clips, paper clips, tape dispensers, scissors; NO BROKEN GLASS, BATTERIES, LIGHT BULBS, ORGANICS, WOODEN PENCILS, PAINTS)

HOW DO I PARTICIPATE?

  • Folks who would like to participate can drop off recyclables in these six categories – ideally separated by category – at one of our Yale Club of DC drop off locations (listed below) between April 6 and May 31.
  • We also need people to volunteer to be a drop-off point themselves (I could use ones in DC and VA!). If you’re interested, please call me (Caroline Drees) on 202 222 5959. Drop-off locations will collect the recyclables brought to them, make sure they are separated into the six categories, and then bring them to my house in Potomac at the end of the drive, i.e. after May 31.
  • Deadline for dropping off items is May 31, 2024.
  • Some of this recycling is free, but some isn’t. Donations to support the recycling drive are happily accepted, but are not mandatory!
  • If you’d like to learn more about the places where you can recycle these hard-to-recycle items after the drive, please do get in touch with me (Caroline Drees) on 202 222 5959. 

DROP OFF POINTS:

  • POTOMAC, MD: Caroline Drees ‘93, 10313 Logan Drive, Potomac, MD 20854 (Please call me first on (202) 222 5959).
  • NE WASHINGTON, DC (NOMA, near Union Station): by appointment only. This is Caroline’s office location. Please call Caroline on (202) 222 5959 if you’d like to meet her at this location on a week day between 10 am and 4 pm to drop of your Recycling Drive items.
  • NW WASHINGTON, DC: Jill (Klein) Grant ’77. Please call or text Jill on (301) 922 0862 to arrange drop-off.
  • ARLINGTON, VA: Anne Merrill ’93 (703) 581-3502 - please call or text to arrange drop-off.
  • MCLEAN, VA: Barbara Protacio ’81 (757) 339-7445 – please call first to arrange drop-off. NOTE: if you’re joining the Yale Day of Service Turkey Run Park clean-up on May 11, you can use the opportunity to drop off your recyclables in those six categories at Barbara’s home nearby!

Play Softball with Yalies and Friends

Members of the DC Yale Club are recruiting new alumni for its social softball team! Athletic prowess is welcome but certainly NOT required. Season starts on April 19 and ends in mid-August with 12 games and a post-season tournament during 2 early August weekends in a picnic-style festival & softball tournament! Games are primarily on Saturdays and at lovely West Potomac Park just off of the Mall. Cost will be roughly $40-$60, depending on team size (tournament costs separate).

Please email Sted Garber and Nahyun Cho at [email protected] and [email protected] to sign up or for more information. 

YCWDC Launches a Podcast! - "The Boola Boola"
One aspect of the Yale Club’s programming has remained largely unchanged since its founding - the Club would schedule an event somewhere, and people came to it. And for a century and a half, that centralized model worked extremely well, particularly when there were few alternatives for social or professional networking.

More recently, we’ve been thinking about how to better serve our 10,000 members and bring more programming to you. We started decentralized programming with regional meetups, and during the pandemic pivoted exceptionally well to virtual programming.

The next step in that path is to deliver programming not just where it’s convenient, but also when it’s convenient. We're thrilled to announce the debut of a limited run podcast, the Boola Boola. Over the next several months, former YCWDC President and host Anant Raut be talking to Yalies doing cool things, discussing great (or “great”) moments in Yale history with alums who were there, and getting local alums who know stuff to share their expertise. (I’ve linked a form for suggestions for future episodes in the comments.) We’re going to see how this goes, listen to your feedback, and continue to adapt.

You can follow us on Apple and Spotify and other podcast platforms, and find future episodes here and on the Club’s website. 

https://theboolaboola.buzzsprout.com/2136651/12275809?fbclid=IwAR16l75YLBJW02A98ubrYByynIe9ahaKbeA_c48vu9kX-qYeL5U4j4CKwE4 

Enjoy, and thanks for being part of the Yale Club of Washington, D.C.!

 Support Your Club: Yale Club of DC T-Shirts For Sale

     

We're excited to introduce our brand new organic cotton Yale Club of Washington, DC, T-shirts. These soft, durable and fully preshrunk T-shirts are made in the United States with water-based inks. The shirts are blue with the YCWDC logo in white. Each sale supports the non-profit work of the Club, from events to mentoring and community service! 

To order, please click this form, or email Caroline Drees at [email protected] for questions or more information. 

FROM THE VICE PRESIDENT OF MEMBERSHIP

Dear fellow alumni,

For more than 146 years, members of the Yale Club of Washington, D.C. have served as the backbone of the Yale alumni community throughout the DMV.  Through this tradition of member support, the Club brings local Yale alumni together to connect, learn, socialize, and serve the communities in which we live.  We currently have 681 contributing Club members whose support allows the Club to serve the approximately 14,000 Yale degree holders, parents, and widows in the greater Washington area.  The Yale Club of Washington, D.C. is among the most vibrant of all Yale clubs across the country.  It is thanks to the financial support of our membership that we are able to do so much. 

Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, however, Club membership has started to decline, understandable, in light of its effect on people’s professional lives and livelihoods.  If you would like to be or remain a Club member, but are unable to do so due to financial hardship, please let me know. 

For those of you who are able, we invite you to become a member, if you are not one already.  And for those of you who are members, we urge you to renew your membership, when the time comes.  Being a member directly supports Club operations and activities.  Our Club is more than just a social club.  Our community service options, under the leadership of Maria Whelan, are particularly robust.  We work closely with the Capital Area Food Bank and sponsor multiple community service fellowships a year.  In addition, we offer educational programming focused on matters of urgent public interest, as well as a variety of topics that feature the diversity and achievement of Yale alumni.

In times like these, it is important to remain connected.  We welcome DMV Alumni from Yale College and ALL Yale graduate and professional schools as part of our community!    Please do not hesitate to contact the Club with your thoughts and suggestions, which will be most welcome.  Stay well and healthy.   


FROM THE YALE CLUB OF WASHINGTON, DC PRESIDENT

Dear fellow alumni,

I write to share an update on the Club's programming plans for the fiscal year.  We will continue to host monthly lectures, virtually for now, and are excited to share plans to broaden the event topic variety offered.  We intend to do so by increasing both the number and subject area of our offerings.  In addition to educational programming, we aim to increase the number of events featuring faculty from Yale College as well as faculty from Yale graduate and professional schools.  We also plan to increase the number of panel events and see this as a key way to engage with material by highlighting the multidimensionality of the issue under discussion. It is our hope to promote valuable connections between the subject matter experts with one another, and with the audience.  One key takeaway from these past months of virtual events is our membership's strong desire to engage with each other and the content during event discussions.  To further this objective, we will host more interactive sessions and use virtual "break-out" rooms whenever feasible to foster discussion in a more intimate setting.  We see this as a way to create community, which stands as a bedrock principal of our Club's purpose and stated goals.  Our planned expansion of the variety of programming types offered will include heritage month events, professional development and Yale alumni career stories, and instructional programming.  Lastly, we are engaging with the greater Yale community to provide artistic programming content.  More information will be coming out soon on this initiative! 

Thank you for being the best part of the Yale Club of Washington, D.C.  Please reach out to me directly if you have suggestions for programming.

Hope to see you soon "virtually" in one of our programs!

Lauren Harris, '14, President


The Yale Club of Washington, D.C. is proud to receive a YAA Board of Excellence Award for our programs last fiscal year. Our Club is proud to work with such a brilliant, motivated, caring, and diverse group of alums, and we appreciate everyone who supports our community.  

Get involved with our online community on Facebook!

With more than 1500 members so far, our Facebook group is a valuable "place" for local alumni to connect.  Join us! Young alums can join us here.


  

The Yale Club of Washington, D.C. is regularly hosting webinars and virtual meetings.

Members are able to access all past recordings in our Virtual Library!