It was still only mid-May, but the sunshine and energy in the air made it feel like the height of summer. In New York City's Central Park, nearly 150 Yalies gathered on Saturday, May 17th, to soak up the warmth and each other’s company. Under a brilliant blue sky with temperatures nearing 80 degrees, classmates brought the spirit and memories of Yale to NYC, reconnecting, making fresh introductions across class years, and sharing excitement about the summer adventures ahead.
From 1 to 4 p.m., the area near Summit Rock in Central Park was buzzing with energy. There was Yale blue everywhere, lots of laughter, and a shared excitement as everyone looked forward to many more warm summer weekend days ahead filled with adventures and time relaxing. The Yale Alumni Association generously provided bagels and water, and the rest of the picnic came together in a potluck-style arrangement, featuring chips, pasta, drinks, and plenty of treats brought by classmate guests and their families.
There was something for everyone to enjoy: lawn games, playground time for the kids at the nearby park playgrounds, and plenty of space for everyone to relax and reconnect with one another.
Hosting a Yale summer picnic in NYC’s Central Park is a tradition that has been carried forward for almost 10 years by a rotating set of leaders from Yale’s alumni community. Variously run both as a mid-summer event and as a “welcome back” from summer event in years’ past, this year organizers decided to try hosting the picnic before summer began, in hopes that conversations from the picnic might carry forward to guests including one another in a few of their summer plans, too. Additionally, organizers continued to do their best to meaningfully engage fellow alumni in and near NYC with this event, partnering with a growing cohort of adjacent alumni groups from Yale’s alumni ecosystem to help spread the word broadly and early enough to encourage vibrant turnout on the day of the event.
This year’s picnic was co-hosted by Yale Alumni Educators, 1stGenYale, and the Yale College Class of 2008, and was co-promoted by the Yale College Classes of 2004-2011, by the yale.NYC regional club, and by the Yale Club of NYC. Lead organizers Carol Yu ’08, Grace Kim ’22, and Bradford Galiette ’08, ’11 MBA, ’12 MS, supported by Class of 2008 Social Chair Phil Clopton ’08, all expressed their excitement to see how this year’s event drew such meaningful turnout from such a vast portion of the Yale alumni community. Guests included Yale alumni from the 1970s classes through the Class of 2024, representing a mix of members from Yale College and Yale’s Graduate and Professional Schools. More than half of Yale’s schools were represented by at least one of their alumni at this event. This year’s event represents a close partnership among multiple groups aligned with each of the Yale College Classes, Shared Interest Group, and Regional Club constituencies of Yale’s alumni community.
Organizers for this year’s event extend their gratitude to the Yale Alumni Association for their help and to everyone who joined this year’s picnic!
