President’s Message: April 2025
April 2025
Once again, it is my pleasure to offer our members an update on the Yale Club of South Florida (YCSF). As one might say with news cycles these days, “Never a dull moment.” Such was the case with the Club in 2024, a theme that has carried over into 2025.
We were sad to see a key member of our board, Tyler Godoff, depart our ranks. However, we take comfort that he’s now just a short trip north, to the region where we maintain our close relationship with the Yale Club of the Palm Beaches (more on that later). Meanwhile, we were pleased to add Shalini Uppu as our new Director of Community Outreach, while Michael Zwerner will now serve as our new Director of Programming, taking over from Tyler.
Our Executive Committee of the board is listed below. Please reach out to any officer or director if you have questions, concerns or suggestions regarding the Club. More importantly, if you’re interested in assisting the YCSF in any capacity, please contact us.
By way of review, we began 2024 with an author talk from Carmen Vittoria (Ph.D. ’70). His most recent book, “Hidden in Plain Sight," focuses on the plight of Jewish internees and townspeople in Southern Italy caught in the crossfire of warring armies during WWII.
Shortly thereafter, the Yale Whiffenpoofs gave one of their annual South Florida performances at the Studio in at Mizner Park, followed closely by one of our signature annual events, Feb Club Emeritus. Yale alumni, family and friends gathered out on South Beach at Bondi Sushi for a private, all-you-can-eat Omakase experience. Our former Director of Programming, Tyler Godoff, led the charge on the event, which yielded many positive reviews by attendees, some of whom came into town from the Bahamas and beyond.
Rolling into March, and a well-attended Happy Hour at Bay 13 Brewery in Coral Gables, the month began not like a lion but like another big cat as we led yet another Florida Panthers night—this time against the Nashville Predators—with the Harvard, Penn, Princeton and Vanderbilt Clubs.
At the end of March, the Club partnered with other schools for the Miami Open at the Hard Rock Stadium. Yale alumni joined other Ally-Ivy Plus (AIP) fans for a night of tennis at the highest level. On a much smaller but no less entertaining scale, a group of adventurous Yale alumni engaged in a private paintball game at the Matrix Tactical Paintball course in Homestead.
Public service is and always has been a mission of the YCSF. To that end, in early May, we hosted our most family-friendly event of the year. Dozens of Yale alumni, family and friends braved the great outdoors to participate in a beach cleanup at Crandon Park on Key Biscayne.
Because we realize many Yale alumni have connections with peer schools, the YCSF does its best to promote AIP events throughout the year. Thus, we and other AIP alumni joined in a Happy Hour at the beginning of June out on Miami Beach at the Carillon Miami Wellness Resort with a YCSF-only Happy Hour hosted at the Bayshore Club in Coconut Grove the following month.
July included the kick-off of the Club’s latest initiative—our Small Group Dinners (SGD) series. The concept behind SGDs is so simple it’s a wonder it hasn’t been launched previously. To help build and foster relationships within our Yale alumni community, the Club began to promote small, local and intimate dinner gatherings for members. Different discussion topics were proposed for each dinner (e.g., AI, healthcare, affordable housing and climate change in South Florida). 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 was of the SDG leader’s choosing. Look for more SGDs in Miami-Dade and Broward beginning this month.
In early September, an event of interest to Yale alumni with high school aged children was hosted at the Elena Bulatova Fine Art Gallery in South Beach. The topic: “Who Gets in and Why: Inside the New World of College Admissions.” The featured speaker was our own and newest EC member, Shalini Uppu, who previously worked in the Yale Admissions Office and was an Admissions Officer at 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, which we typically co-host with the Harvard Club of Miami. This past November, we returned to American Social on the Miami River as the venue for the 140th edition of “The Game”, where Yale dominated Harvard 34-29 and denied the Crimson the outright Ivy League Championship in the last game of the season.
Heading into the final month of 2024, the YCSF once again joined with the local Harvard Club to co-host a holiday party at Kojin, a modern Japanese-American fusion restaurant in Coral Gables for an enchanting night of food, festive drinks and great company. And what better way to work off holiday parties than with an afternoon of pickleball the following weekend at Sip & Pickle Social Club in downtown Miami.
Of course, the Club isn’t all about fun and games. As we rolled into 2025, one of the first cultural events the YCSF promoted was a classical concert featuring Yale pianist Anthony Ratinov (Yale College & Yale School of Music) in a “Chopin for All” performance.
As always, we encourage Yale Parents to become involved with the Club and its activities since parents are often our biggest supporters. By way of example, over Winter Break, a brunch gathering of current Yale College students was held at the Hollywood home of Yale Parents Samara and Peter Bober (P ‘26). YC students from our region had the opportunity to meet classmates they might not have realized also hail from the Sunshine State while passing each other on campus.
Typically, my President’s Message has focused on the past calendar year. In the first few months of 2025, however, there’s so much more to highlight. For example, Feb Club Emeritus has, and always will be, one of our signature annual events. We strive to host Feb Club gatherings that revolve around an “Only in Florida” theme. Along those lines, this year’s Feb Club in Crandon Park on Key Biscayne involved a cherished tradition, uniting students and alumni across generations and around the world.
In true Miami fashion, we honored the city's deep Cuban ties with a traditional Caja China Pig Roast, bringing together alumni for a day of delicious food, great music and shared Bulldog spirit. A huge shoutout to Michael Zwerner (SOM ‘11), who led the charge in organizing this incredible event of over 60 members of the Yale community, where he served as our chef extraordinaire. His dedication, along with the efforts of our event volunteers, ensured a true culinary and community experience.
I mentioned at the beginning of my Message our neighboring club to the north, the Yale Club of the Palm Beaches (YCPB). The YCSF is committed to pooling its efforts with the YCPB–and more recently the Yale Club of Southwest Florida (YCSWF) based in Naples–to co-host and cross-promote events we hope will appeal to alumni from our various regions. Florida is a big state, but we’re all happy to provide Yale alumni with as many options as possible when it comes to connecting with graduates from Yale College and Yale’s many Graduate and Professional Schools. By subscribing to our YCSF mailing list, you’ll be informed of upcoming YCBP events (and they, too, have many on their calendar for the first half of 2025) as well as YCSWF events like lunch with Yale Football Coach Tony Reno.
Of course, don’t forget the many YCSF events we are bringing back or have on tap in 2025, such as Happy Hours at Bay 13 Brewery in Coral Gables and Bayshore Club in Coconut Grove, as well as the Miami Open at the Hard Rock Stadium and SGDs on various topics. We also look forward to hosting a Yale Day of Service (YDOS) in May in conjunction with Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Miami. Look for more YDOS updates as we finalize our arrangements.
In terms of Club initiatives, I’m delighted to say that we will finally be ordering our own Mory’s Cup from the same silversmith that provides cups to Mory’s in New Haven. Those who participated in the crowd fund will have their names engraved on the Cup, which we hope to feature at special Club occasions.
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 from local high schools are another ongoing initiative sponsored by the Club. If any alumni are interested in spearheading the Club’s participation in the Yale Book Award program, please contact Shalini Uppu, Director of Community Outreach.
Monthly newsletters will continue to help us to update members on the Club’s activities. Check out our new/updated format as well as the list of events on our Club website. Please let us know about the types of events and initiatives you’d like to see the Club sponsor. As always, keep us on our toes!
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. Contributions can be made through this link.
On behalf of the YCSF, many thanks to all Yalies in our region, including Yale Parents, family and friends, who support the Club and its mission to serve the needs of Yale Alumni located in Miami-Dade and Broward Counties.
Boola, Boola,
Jonathan Kim (SOM ‘00)
