Class News
Jonathan Leader ’64 thanked for Leader Family Scholarships
December 22, 2019
Jonathan Leader received the following letter from the Yale Recording Secretary in thanks for his gift to the Leader Family Scholarship Fund:
Dear Mr. Leader:
Our era of rapid change calls for ingenuity and leadership on all fronts. Yale students — fortified by a tradition of teaching excellence and fueled by the energy and opportunities they find at Yale — stand ready to make the world a better place.
The generous support provided by the Leader Family Scholarship Fund plays a key role in enabling the university to uphold its more than fifty-year commitment to need-blind admissions for undergraduates. As a result, the world's most promising students come to Yale to develop their talents, pursue their dreams, and discover new ways to contribute to society. I am pleased to share information on the exceptional students benefiting from the Leader Scholarship Fund.
We remain grateful for the impact of this endowment and for your gift to the fund in May. Enclosed please find the financial figures as of June 30, 2019.
Sincerely yours,
Cynthia A. Mariani
Director, Stewardship/Recording Secretary
Enclosed with the letter were the following details regarding two students who are benefiting from the Fund.
Alan Presburger
Hometown: Dallas
Residential college: Silliman
Class: Junior
Graduation: 2021
Major: Cognitive Science
Year on fund: First
Activities: Yale Animal Welfare Alliance VP; Yale Hillel
Alan remained on campus this past summer and interned with the Clark Relationship Science Laboratory. As a student researcher, he analyzed how romantic relationships and friendships unfold over time and the reciprocal influences between such relationships and cognition, emotion, behavior, and personality. Alan will be able to apply what he learned at the lab bench to his classes in his newly declared cognitive science major. He is especially interested in learning about people's social natures and how we think about our relationships with one another.
Reflecting on his time at Yale, Alan writes that his favorite activity has been engaging with the Jewish community on campus. This yeaer he is serving as co-president of Yale Hillel. He also keeps busy with two campus jobs: he is a dining hall student manager and a student caller with the Yale Alumni Fund Phone Program.
Samuel J. Gross
Hometown: The Bronx
Residential college: Pierson
Class: Senior
Graduation: 2020
Major: Religious Studies
Year on fund: Second
A two-time Leader Family Scholar, Sam is in his final year on campus. He is diligently working to complete the course requirements for his degree in religious studies. At last report, he planned to focus his senior project on the intersection of religion and the law.
Reflecting on his time at the university, Sam recalls spending his first Yale-Harvard weekend with the Mock Trial team. During those two days, Sam fully understood the kindness of the Mock Trial family. Together, the squad made the trek to Harvard and bonded as they explored Cambridge together. The experience made him feel welcome in the Yale community, and he remembers that weekend as the time when Yale first started to seem like home for him.