President’s Message: March 2026
March 2026
Once again, allow me to provide our members with an update on events and activities of the Yale Club of South Florida (YCSF). We continue to offer a broad range of opportunities for local alumni of Yale College and its many Graduate and Professional Schools to come together in a variety of settings.
While I offer this Message as President of the YCSF, most of the credit for the Club’s continued success belongs to its other leaders. Those individuals—who I cannot thank enough for their ongoing dedication to the Club and to Yale—are listed below.
Grant Schafle (YC ’11) – Vice President
Giovanni Christodoulou (YC ’12) – Secretary
Mark Schlangel (YSM ’10 and SOM ’10) – Treasurer
Michael Zwerner (SOM ’11) – Director of Programming
Louis Moon (YC ‘23) – Director of Marketing
Chiyel Hayles (YLS ’17 and SOM ’17) – Director of Special Initiatives
Shalini Uppu (YC ’06) – Director of Community Outreach
Before I recap our activities over the past four seasons, I would like to recognize Jennifer Gammond (SOM ’19), one of our former Vice Presidents. She left our board recently after devoting years of time and effort, organizing signature events, helping to bring noted speakers to our area from New Haven, and serving as a model for the rest of us to emulate as a Club leader. We deeply appreciate her work with the YCSF and look forward to seeing her at upcoming events.
For those who read my President’s Message each April, you’ll see a new name on our roster of officers and directors. Louis Moon has joined our ranks as our new Director of Communications. Look for him to put his stamp on this most important of Club roles as he continues to keep you informed of upcoming events and initiatives hosted, co-hosted or promoted by the YCSF.
And now, on to a review of 2025.
Last winter, we opened the year with several cultural events, offering our members access to a performance of Chopin for All by Pianist Anthony Ratinov and a Private Tour of the Norton Museum in West Palm Beach through our neighboring club to the north, the Yale Club of the Palm Beaches (YCPB). The YCSF and YCPB continue our unofficial partnership, whereby the clubs co-host and cross-promote events activities to provide more openings for local alumni in Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach Counties to gather socially and intellectually.
Because many Yale alumni also have connections with peer schools, the YCSF also promotes events throughout the year hosted or sponsored by All-Ivy Plus (AIP) member schools. AIP, for those unfamiliar with the term, is a local association of regional alumni clubs for Ivy League universities and other peer institutions like MIT, Stanford, and the University of Chicago. By signing up for our mailing list, you will receive notices and information on various AIP events as well as those hosted or sponsored by the YCSF.
Last February, in the dead of winter, the Club once again rolled out an Only in South Florida event for Feb Club Emeritus: a traditional Caja China Pig Roast on the beach. Credit for the sold out idea goes to our Director of Programming, Michael Zwerner, who led the arrangements for a Cuban style roast on the sands of Key Biscayne in Crandon Park, where vegetarian options were also included on the menu. With the support of other Club officers and directors, over 60 members of the Yale community partook in a sunny day of delicious food, great music, and shared Bulldog sprit while honoring Miami’s deep Cuban ties.
One might say that March 2025 came in, not like a lion, but rather a Yale bulldog. In another cross-promotion of events among regional Yale Clubs, alumni who ventured across Alligator Alley were able to attend a luncheon reception with Yale Football Head Coach Tony Reno in Naples, courtesy of the Yale Club of Southwest Florida. And continuing with the sports theme, March also included a Yale Club Night at the Miami Open, including a Happy Hour at American Social’s pop-up at the Hard Rock Stadium.
Capping off an event-filled month, the Club hosted a Social at Bay 13 Brewery in Coral Gables before continuing one of our newest and most acclaimed initiatives in early April—our Small Group Dinners (SGD) series. For those who may have missed the rollout of SGDs in 2025, they’re the brainchild of our Vice President, Grant Schafle. To help build and foster relationships within our Yale alumni community, SGDs are local and intimate dinner gatherings for YCSF members. Different discussion topics have been selected for each dinner (e.g., New to Miami, Young Alumni, Life in Miami, Foodies in Florida, Arts, Music and Culture, Entrepreneurship, Investing, and Healthcare). Alumni signed up for SGDs by topic of interest and location; attendees were limited to 6-8 members on a first come, first served basis; and the restaurant venue was determined by the SGD leader for each gathering. Look for more SGDs in Miami-Dade and Broward in 2026.
April brought another Club Social, this time at Bayshore Club in Coconut Grove, a new venue for YCSF gatherings. As always, we welcome your suggestions for Club social gatherings—especially involving venues with direct or indirect connections to Yale.
Continuing the YCSF’s longstanding commitment to public service, for 2025’s Yale Day of Service (YDOS), we were pleased to partner with Big Brothers, Big Sisters of Miami, a national organization dedicated to empowering youth through strong, supportive one-on-one mentorship relationships. Our YDOS event, titled “What I Wish I Knew” featured a series of rotating stations where students were able to hear about real world experiences (lessons learned) and practical advice from alumni and friends of Yale. Subjects included exploring career options and building life skills. The event was all about planting seeds, sparking curiosity, and showing up for the next generation in a meaningful way.
July included another Club Happy Hour out on South Beach at Bondi Sushi, site of a previous Feb Club gathering. And in August, the Club once again hosted an event of keen interest to Yale alumni with high school aged children in Miami on the ins and outs of the college admissions process. This event, first held in 2024 and entitled “Who Gets in and Why: Inside the New World of College Admissions,” was reprised by popular demand. Again, the featured speaker was our own Director of Community Outreach, Shalini Uppu, who previously worked as an application reader in the Yale College Admissions Office and was an Admissions Officer at both Duke University and the University of Chicago.
One of the Club’s annual events we take the most pride in organizing is the Yale-Harvard Game Watch Party. This past November, we returned to Frank Pepe Pizzeria Napoletana in Plantation, FL for a private gathering of Yale and Harvard alumni, family and friends as the venue for the 141st edition of The Game. A game, BTW, where Yale defeated Harvard 48-25, thereby securing a share of the Ivy League title for the Bulldogs and clinching an automatic berth in the FCS playoffs—the first such berth clinched by any Ivy League school. I can’t say enough about this event, which included all-you-can-eat-pizza and all-you-can-drink beer and wine. Kids under 15 at for free, with free parking on-site, coverage of The Game on a large screen and free make-your-ow-pie activity, where Pepe’s brought attendees back into the kitchen to learn how to craft their own Frank Pepe pies. Special shout outs to all the Club’s officers and directors who helped organize the event, including Grant Schafle, Mike Zwerner, and Shalini Uppu, and our Club Secretary and former Yale Football star and standout, Gio Christodoulou.
As I’ve mentioned in past President’s Messages, the YCSF isn’t all about fun and games. We rolled into 2026 in January with the Club’s first cultural event of the year, a “Talk & Reception entitled “Music and the Brain” with Yale School of Music Dean José García-León. The event, hosted by the Club and held at the Steinway Piano Gallery in Coral Gables, attracted over 60 Yale alumni, family and friends and included a performance by the Dean as part of his talk. Look for more events, initiatives and opportunities promoted by the Club in the coming months and throughout the rest of the year.
Turning to Club initiatives, in 2025 we finally received our Mory’s Cup from the same silversmith that provides cups to Mory’s in New Haven. Those who participated in the crowd fund had their names engraved on the Cup. Look for the Cup to make regular appearances at upcoming events hosted by the Club.
One recent appearance of our Mory’s Cup was at this year’s Feb Club Emeritus 2026. The Club hosted a dim sum brunch at the renowned Tropical Chinese restaurant across from Tropical Park in conjunction with the Asian Lunar New Year (it’s the Year of the Horse, BTW, for those interested). With a packed room of 40 attendees, and a special menu designed by Mo Zhou, our Director of Social Media, the Club hosted an event worthy of a big shout out by the Yale Alumni Association.
Hosting events with broad appeal is only part of the Club’s ongoing effort to bring local Yale alumni together. We continue to expand our online and social media outreach with our LinkedIn community and Instagram page (yaleclub_soflo).
Yale Book Awards represent another ongoing initiative promoted by the Club. If any alumni are interested in sponsoring a local high school’s Yale Book Award for an outstanding student, please contact shalini.uppu@aya.yale.edu.
Monthly newsletters will continue to help us to update members on our activities. Check out our Club website for more information on upcoming events throughout the year. Please let us know about the types of events and initiatives you’d like to see us sponsor. We also encourage Yale Parents to become involved with the Club and its activities since parents are often our biggest supporters. More importantly, if you’re interested in assisting us in any capacity—or you know of anyone who might be interested—please contact us.
The YCSF continues to operate as a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organization as recognized by the Internal Revenue Service. With this status, the Club welcomes tax deductible contributions to help us underwrite our growing list of events and initiatives. For those who made contributions in 2025 you should have received a hand-written note of appreciation from our Vice President, Grant Schafle, whose handwriting no doubt is more legible than mine. Contributions to the Club can be made at any time via this link.
On behalf of the YCSF, once again, many thanks to all graduates of Yale College and alumni in our region from Yale’s various Graduate and Professional Schools, as well as Yale Parents, family and friends, who support the Club and its mission to serve the needs of alumni in Miami-Dade and Broward Counties.
Boola, Boola,
Jonathan Kim (SOM ‘00)
