Program Highlights

Featured Interviews:

Jackie Knobelsdorf | Pauli Murray ‘21

“First and foremost, I don't know what my Yale experience would be like if I didn't do FOCUS. I met a lot of my best friends from the program, and a lot of my friends from my small group that worked at LEAP get brunch every Sunday. They're even my phone background. In terms of getting used to Yale, FOCUS really helped me. It was so nice for me to have that support system—a group of friends that I already had during Camp Yale and first semester. I can' imagine what I would do without these people in my life, so I'm really thankful that FOCUS was the reason why I know them.”

Why did you choose to do FOCUS?

“I really wanted to do a pre-orientation program to meet new people and get oriented into Yale before being thrown into everything without knowing anything or anybody. I chose FOCUS in particular because I loved that it focused more on community service and getting acquainted with New Haven as well as other Yale students. I think community engagement is very important, and it’s very important to my college experience and so I definitely wanted to do a program where it would force me to really get to know New Haven instead of staying in the Yale bubble, especially during my first year. Also, my high school did a similarly formatted retreat. It was a four-day, three-night type thing where you’re in small groups and you really bond with people, so I thought FOCUS was super fitting for me because I loved that experience and [they were both] community service programs and I really wanted to continue that. It just looked super fun and I was really excited to do it!

Tell us a little bit about your service site.

“I worked with LEAP. They have programs during the school year and during the summer in New Haven and they do a lot of different things. Some of the programs that stood out to me were the swimming program, to teach these kids how to swim, because the population they work with is more likely to drown and not know how to swim. They really take measures to fix that issue. They also have one that’s super cute—it’s like a prom shop, where they’ll have people donate their old prom dresses and the older kids can come and pick one out so they don’t have to worry about spending money to buy a new dress that they are only going to wear once or twice. Besides that, they do a lot of after school programs. During FOCUS, my group did more of the logistical things. We helped with their mulch piles, we repainted things, we helped organize their storage closets, because they need that to be done in order for the programs to run more smoothly. We also took tours of the facilities and learned about their goals, so it was really cool for me to see what organizations like these are really trying to do for the New Haven community. They really gave us a lot of detail about how we, as Yale students, could help with their mission, so I thought that was super valuable. All the people at LEAP are so amazing and dedicated to what they do, but they’re also willing to let Yale students come in and see what we can do to help them achieve their goals.”

How has FOCUS connected to your experiences at Yale and in New Haven?

“First and foremost, I don’t know what my Yale experience would be like if I didn’t do FOCUS. I met a lot of my best friends from the program, and a lot of my friends from my small group that worked at LEAP get brunch every Sunday. They’re even my phone background. In terms of getting used to Yale, FOCUS really helped me. It was so nice for me to have that support system—a group of friends that I already had during Camp Yale and first semester. I can’t imagine what I would do without these people in my life, so I’m really thankful that FOCUS was the reason why I know them. In terms of my relationship with New Haven, FOCUS definitely made me want to do service. I came in [to Yale] wanting to do community service but I didn’t really know what Yale had to offer or what organizations New Haven had that I could partner with. I think FOCUS was a really good way for me to see what I wanted to do in New Haven. I work a lot with kids doing tutoring and other programs, so working with LEAP in particular really helped me realized I wanted to continue that from high school into Yale. Honestly, FOCUS really helped me get settled into Yale and New Haven, and I’m really thankful for that.”

What is your favorite FOCUS memory?

“Oh my. I have so many. I think one of my favorites—I guess this is sort of a broader thing—was the fact that we did hometowns in our groups, because I got very close to the people in my group because of Hometowns*. It was a super valuable experience for me, personally, because I love learning about people and where they come from and who they are and their perspectives and everything like that. It was just fun for me, to learn about people. Everyone has done really cool things, and everyone has been through a lot. You wouldn’t necessarily know that from having a more casual or surface level relationship with them. Maybe a lighter [memory] is that we would all sit out on Old Campus and Bluebook** together, and we were freaking out together because we didn’t know what happening, but our leaders are super helpful. I think a lot of my favorite memories from FOCUS weren’t the huge monumental things; they were the small things that really impacted me a lot.”

*Hometowns are a way that FOCUSers get to know each other! Each person tells the others in their small group about their life story, often including their hometown, family, friends, and passions.

**Bluebooking describes the process of selecting courses to attend during Shopping Period. Using the Bluebook website, students can see all the classes offered that term, organized by departments, professors, keywords, distributional requirements, or time slots.”

Do you have any advice to someone thinking about doing FOCUS?

“Absolutely, 100% do FOCUS. I couldn’t recommend it highly enough. I think FOCUS was one of the best parts of my Yale experience so far, so I don’t know what I would do without it. I also think it’s really helpful to see what people at Yale and in New Haven are doing to build their relationship and help the community. We are living here for four years, and you don’t want to just skate through that without interacting with the New Haven community. FOCUS is a beautiful way to integrate you both into the Yale community and the overall New Haven area. You meet so many amazing people and it really forces you to make connections and make Yale your new home pretty quickly. My advice would be that if you’re considering doing community service at Yale or if you want to have a program where you can meet new people who are like-minded in that sense, you meet so many diverse people and it’s a great way to bond with your peers. It was one of the best moments of my first year, and I can’t recommend it highly enough.”

Meghan Gupta | Morse ‘21

“Every night we would talk about the readings that we had read which connected to the theme of the day. I really enjoyed those because it was really my first experience with talking with my new peers, getting new ideas out there, and having productive discussion about how to actively and appropriately engage in community service and I think those discussions really shaped the way I still think today. It was really great to hear from my peers and it helped us all bond more. I learned a lot that I didn’t know before which was really great. The memory of having those discussions late at night in a really close-knit group late at night really fostered a lot of bonding.”

Why did you choose to do FOCUS?

“I felt very strongly that I wanted to be connected to a place that I would live for four years and I knew that when school actually started it would be busy and stressful and I wouldn’t be able to engage as much with the community as I wanted to, so I wanted to really immerse myself in it as much as I could before I came in so I could become more educated about the issues in the area and just feel that I was making an impact not just at Yale but in New Haven as well.”

Tell us a little bit about your service site.

“My group worked at New Haven Reads, which is a community book-drop as well as a place where young kids can be tutored in reading and come choose books. Basically any member of the community can come, browse around, take a book—they’re all free. You could either take one and return it like a library, or take one and leave one, or just take one. So we made orders and boxed them. A school would request like 20 children’s books and we’d put them in box and send them. We helped build furniture and do some paperwork for the summer program they’re starting and sign people up for tutoring. It was a lot of administrative work and learning about what the organization does.”

How has FOCUS connected to your experiences at Yale and in New Haven?

“I definitely [did FOCUS] to make sure I was engaged and thinking about the issues present in my community in the city I am living in currently. I think sometimes as Yalies we have a tendency to disassociate ourselves from New Haven in general. I mean, it’s very easy. A lot of people don’t go off campus that much, and so I think having FOCUS and having that community of people who were so passionate about public service and justice really helped me stay engaged and involved in these issues and think critically about them, which is something I’m really grateful for today.”

What is your favorite FOCUS memory?

“Wow. There was so much. Every night we would talk about the readings that we had read which connected to the theme of the day. I really enjoyed those because it was really my first experience with talking with my new peers, getting new ideas out there, and having productive discussion about how to actively and appropriately engage in community service and I think those discussions really shaped the way I still think today. It was really great to hear from my peers and it helped us all bond more. I learned a lot that I didn’t know before which was really great. The memory of having those discussions late at night in a really close-knit group late at night really fostered a lot of bonding.”

Do you have any advice to someone thinking about doing FOCUS?

“I was very torn—I think what a lot of the other pre-orientation programs do is advertise and pull you in and say “you’re going to bond with all your classmates, you’re going to be best friends by the time you get out, you’ll have a group when you come to Yale.” Just advice when choosing a program is that FOCUS does make you close with your group but most importantly it helps you open the door for a lot of self-reflection and coming into this new environment its very important to do a lot of introspection and think critically about the issues were talking about. The FOCUS program is the best out of all of them because so much of it is focused on how we can productively engage. My advice would be, if you really want to walk away feeling like you learned something about the way that you want to impact your community, do it.”

Jacob Hillman | Berkeley ‘19

“My favorite FOCUS memory was right when I got there. I had my suitcases and I had no idea what was going on, and I walked through Phelps gate and it was exactly what I expected Old Campus to look like. There were kids everywhere, and people running around in weird costumes, and just handing out free pizza. There was a swarm of people asking, ‘where are you going? Can I help you? Can I take your luggage?’ and that was the perfect welcome to Yale for me. I needed something like that to reassure me that I was making the right decision. It was really cool to take a second to look at Old Campus and think ‘wow, this is such a special environment.”

Why did you choose to do FOCUS?

“I chose to do FOCUS specifically for the Sophomore-Transfer Program. I wanted to do FOOT at first, but discovered that there was a program specifically for sophomores and transfer students and hoped to meet other transfer students that way.”

Tell us a little bit about your service site.

“We did Habitat for Humanity. It was a small group—there were three normal students and one leader. We would go in the morning out to these different building sites and actually work with the construction. None of us knew anything about how to build things so they kind of taught us really simple tasks. It was really fun. We got to see our progress. We got to nail things into the wall. We carried a tub up a ladder. It was cool because we didn’t just work on the same house every time so we started the week at one house and moved to another where we did landscaping. Actually, one of the people working on the house was the person who was going to end up getting the house, so we got to talk to him about how he helped construct his house and how he was taking advantage for Habitat for Humanity. It was pretty hot outside but we brought little lunches and drinks so we were able to refresh halfway through the day. I got really close to the people at my service site.”

How has FOCUS connected to your experiences at Yale and in New Haven?

“FOCUS has definitely stayed with me throughout my experience at Yale so far, mostly because the people I met were the first people I met at Yale. As an incoming Junior Transfer I got to meet half of the other transfers, which was really nice, and it gave me a foundation that I’ve been able to take advantage of. I still see my FOCUS friends all the time and still say hi to them. As far as community service, I haven’t done anything with the organizations that FOCUS used, but FOCUS made me want to do something in the community so I do community service stuff that is more specific to what I’m interested in, like teaching kids computer science. I wouldn’t have really looked to do community service if FOCUS hadn’t shown me that it was so easy to do here.”

What is your favorite FOCUS memory?

Do you have any advice to someone thinking about doing FOCUS?

“I definitely think FOCUS is the best option for transfer students. I wish that I would’ve known about it even earlier and I’m so glad I did it because it helped me meet not only the other transfer students, but also a handful of returning sophomores. I got to meet people who have had time at Yale to give me pointers. It was nice to know people who weren’t transfers but it was also nice to know the incoming class of transfers because they ended up being my closest friends. I definitely urge transfers to do FOCUS.”

Testimonials:

“As a new student, FOCUS was my first exposure to Yale and New Haven. It provided an extraordinary eye-opening experience to the great service that happens in the community, and how students on campus can contribute to it. My Yale experience would not be the same if I had not done FOCUS and not met some of the greatest service-minded individuals in the community that work everyday to improve New Haven. While bonding with fellow students during the week who I now consider life-long friends, I gained a deep appreciation for the city I now call home and understand how students can be a productive part of it.” - Ryan Liu, MC ‘18

Attending FOCUS was an incredibly rewarding experience for me. As a transfer student, FOCUS played a key role in my initial impression of Yale and my transition to the university in general. The program provided me with an immersive introduction to the wide array of service opportunities in and around New Haven. Before classes even started, I learned about and worked with FOCUS community partners, became more aware of local social justice issues, and – perhaps most importantly – I formed lasting friendships with other passionate Yalies who made my service experiences worthwhile. - Taylor Buscemi, CC ‘18

Before FOCUS, I hardly knew anything about the city I lived in. FOCUS, which I was lucky enough to participate in once and help lead twice, introduced me to my home and my neighbors in a meaningful, mutual way. Through FOCUS, I’ve met people who care more about their communities than I’d ever thought possible and seen places and neighborhoods that Yalies otherwise rarely get to experience. FOCUS marked the start of a college-long involvement in volunteering: my FOCUS site was New Haven Reads, a community book bank and tutoring center that I have had the pleasure of working at ever since. And, of course, my fellow FOCUS participants—“FOCI”—have become my close friends, long after the week of FOCUS adventures ended. - Jacob Wasserman, BR ‘16