Welcome to the Yale Alumni Association of Central Pennsylvania Newsletter. The officers of the Yale Alumni Association of Central Pennsylvania use this newsletter to try to keep its membership informed of activities being offered by the association.

Holiday Luncheon. Each year the association sponsors a holiday luncheon for the current students so that they can meet the alumni in the area. Thanks to Dean Weidner, this year the luncheon will be at the Harrisburg Country Club on Thursday, December 28, 2006, beginning at Noon. The Country Club is located at 401 Fishing Creek Valley Road, Harrisburg. The cost will be $20.00 and that includes lunch (there is no cost for students).

Please let either Dean Weidner ((717) 234-4182) or Rodrigo Diaz ((717) 960-9860 (h); (717) 783-9454 (w); rdiaz@state.pa.us) know by December 26 if you are interested, although we can always accommodate a few last-second arrivals. For driving directions to the Country Club, it is best to call them directly at (717) 599-5712 although you can certainly call Dean or Rod as well. You may pay Rod Diaz ahead of time at the address listed below or simply pay when you get there. The cost will be $20.00 and that includes lunch. There is no cost for current students.

Dues. Dues are again $15.00 for those alumni who have been out for ten years or more (Class of 1996 or earlier) and free for those who are more recent graduates. The purpose of dues is to cover the expenses the club incurs in mailings and in running activities. Please make your check out to “Yale Alumni Association of Central Pennsylvania”, and mail it to:

Yale Alumni Association of Central Pennsylvania
c/o Rodrigo Diaz
704 Sutton Drive
Carlisle, Pennsylvania, 17013

Please use the same address when prepaying any club activity.

Website. Yale University hosts websites on its server for groups such as our alumni association. Benjamin Slotznick is our webmaster. Our website is www2.aya.yale.edu/clubs/centralpa/ You can also go to the Yale website, www.yale.edu and follow the links to our web page. If there is Yale-related or alumni-related information you would like to share, feel free to contact Ben for inclusion on the website.

AYA Community Service Summer Fellowship. The AYA Community Service Summer Fellowship places graduate and undergraduate students in community service groups and provides a stipend for the student for the summer. This allows students to work with public service organizations that would not otherwise be able to afford to hire the student. For the last several years, our relatively small club has been able to support one student and place her the Program for Female Offenders in Dauphin County. Although we did not have a summer fellow in 2006, we hope to sponsor a summer fellow in 2007. If you are interested in helping out financially or in some other way, please contact Rod Diaz.

Alumni Schools Committee. The alumni school committee is the organization that interviews prospective Yale students. The following is from Patricia Wei, Associate Director of Admissions and Director of the ASC Program:

Currently Yale College does not have an active Alumni Schools Committee in the Central Pennsylvania area, and this means that none of the 72 applicants from our area were given the opportunity to interview with local Yale alumni. The Yale Admissions Office is now seeking an alumni volunteer to head up and rejuvenate the Central PA ASC. The primary responsibilities of an ASC Director are to coordinate alumni interviews, serve as the public relations arm of the Admissions Office, and to communicate with the ASC membership. ASC work can be quite rewarding since it provides the opportunity to meet with top teenagers from the local community. If you are interested in serving as an ASC member or as a Director for Central PA, please e-mail ascrep@pantheon.yale.edu.

Yale Book Award. The Yale Book Award is a book awarded to promising high school juniors to recognize outstanding personal character and intellectual promise. As the name suggests, the award itself is chosen from a list of books connected to Yale. The award is coordinated with the high school and information about the recipient is provided to Yale, thus allowing Yale to identify a potential candidate for admission. Last year, Dr. David Applegate (’89) sponsored such an award at Chambersburg Area High School. If you are interested in sponsoring such an award at a high school in our region, please contact Rod Diaz.

AYA Delegates. Once a year the Association of Yale Alumni or AYA holds an assembly to provide an open forum for representatives of Yale volunteers to weigh in on Yale's role in a variety of issues. An important part of Yale's alumni governance structure, assemblies also provide valuable networking opportunities. Our club may designate two representatives as delegates to attend the assembly. If you are interested in becoming a delegate, please contact Rod Diaz at the address listed earlier for more information.