Bulldogs in the Big Easy
Scott Sullivan writes:
“The Class of ’58 made a generous contribution to BITBE this year. It was hugely appreciated and it could hardly have gone to a more wonderful cause.
“The New Orleans Bulldogs program brings about 25 Yale undergraduates to the Crescent City each summer. The kids spend ten full weeks working in a wide range of internships, living together in dorm suites on the Loyola University campus and exploring the marvelous food, music and spirit of this very special city.
“BITBE was born in 2006, in the wake of Hurricane Katrina and at the request of students who wanted to work in the recovery effort – but also wanted to apply their brains and education to the task. As president of the Yale Club of Louisiana, I put them in touch with the Bulldogs Across America program, which began in Louisville KY in 2001 and now includes chapters in nine different cities.
“We have had six magnificent years. Some 140 stupendous young people have spent what they all describe as a thrilling, even transformative, experience. They have contribute their talents to the city’s Public Defender’s office, to a half dozen of our burgeoning charter schools, to the city’s Planning Department, to the Tennessee Williams Festival, Jazzfest, the Ogden Museum of Southern Art and the Southern Food and Beverage Museum, and dozens of other local employers. As you might expect, the employers are universally impressed by the Bulldogs.
“The kids get a city orientation tour, a swamp tour and a series of New Orleans style parties. Each kid has a local alumnus to as a mentor. Each year, a group of young people who scarcely know one another transforms into a score of friends for life.
“Best of all, perhaps, more than twenty former Bulldogs have move to New Orleans after graduation and are continuing to contribute to the Crescent City renaissance as teachers, graduate students and entrepreneurs.
“The full cost of the program is about $35,000 a year, raised in about equal shares from local alumni, employers and Yale’s Career Services office. So the class contribution of $3,000 is a very considerable aid to balancing our budget.
“Heartiest thanks to the class from me personal and for all the Bulldogs, Scott”
SOLA
Ted Achilles devoted the most recent chapter of his life to establishing an outstanding school for women in Afghanistan. As the following case statement will attest, the program, SOLA, has an outstanding record, having placed its students in many of the top schools and universities of our country, including Yale.
We’ve included a 6-page brief on SOLA here on our website (click here to access it).
Yale Scholarships
Each year a Yale student receives a scholarship with funds derived from the Class of 1958 Memorial Scholarship Fund. The following is a letter of gratitude from this year’s recipient.
