The Yale Club of New Haven honored 48 high school seniors from the greater New Haven area at its annual Yale-Seton Book Award event, held on Oct. 1 in Davenport College. Students were selected by their schools in recognition of their “outstanding personal character and intellectual promise.”
Each Yale Book Award winner was presented with two books, chosen by the student — one as a keepsake and one to present to their school library. The books are funded by an endowment established by the late Fenmore R. Seton ’38 and Phyllis Z. Seton.
The students and their families were welcomed to Davenport College by Head of College Anjelica Gonzalez, who called the annual Yale-Seton Book award ceremony a highlight of the fall semester.
“Not only does it recognize high school students from around the Connecticut region for their accomplishments but provides an opportunity for local families to spend time on Yale’s campus and in the residential college,” said Gonzalez, who is a professor of biomedical engineering at Yale. “There’s certainly something special in seeing Yale through the eyes of someone who hasn’t spent a significant amount of time on campus.”
Anjelica Gonzalez
During the event, Gonzalez spoke with the students about the importance of education, of determination, and of being proud of who you are. She also shared her own story of becoming a biomedical engineer and innovator at Yale.
Having a chance to meet with the students and their families, Gonzalez said, offered an opportunity to describe Yale University as a place that welcomes people from every background imaginable, “all with the shared goal of exploring their intellectual curiosity.”
“Places like Yale offer opportunities to engage in intellectual dialogue with books and people, building on the foundation of who each student is, in order that they leave the university more enriched by their time here,” she said. “In speaking with them, I learned that the Yale-Seton book award winners are students who are curious, engaged, and eager to explore a broad array of interests, ranging from history to applied mathematics.”
After a traditional group photo with Handsome Dan on the courtyard steps, the high school students returned to the Davenport Common Room where five Yale college students — senior Danielle Ricketts, juniors Elsa Holahan and Elias Theodore, and sophomores John Quevedo and Ethan Reynolds — talked about life at Yale from a local perspective and answered questions from the audience.
Afterward, the student honorees and their families participated in a campus tour followed by lunch in Davenport.
The 2025 Yale-Seton Book Award winners and their schools are Hannah Newman (Academy of Our Lady of Mercy/Lauralton Hall); Roza Gallo (Achievement First Amistad High School); Benjamin Brejwo (Ansonia High School); Emilia Jeffery (Branford High School); Giselle Clark (Cheshire Academy); Sarah Reid (Cheshire High School); Jenny Zaclli (Coginchaug Regional High School); Mitchell Dinkins (Common Ground High School); Thea Barbieto (Cooperative Arts and Humanities High School); Lilliana Gerrard (Daniel Hand High School); Sara
Poric (Derby High School); Sofia Aresco (East Hampton High School); Angel Orozco (East Haven High School); Saket Aliminate (Engineering and Science University Interdistrict Magnet High School); Vansh Patel (F. T. Maloney High School); Ethan Parker (Guilford
High School); Amelia Riggs (Haddam-Killingworth High School); Cameron Puhl (Hamden Hall Country Day School); Dylan Groff (Hamden High School); Jonaily Colon (High School in the Community); Jamiya Bryant (Highville Change Academy); Catherine Bayden (Hill Regional Career High School); Maeve Klatell (Hopkins School); Natalie Pinto (James Hillhouse High School); Siya Patil (Jonathan Law High School); Thao Pham (Joseph A. Foran High School); Lmary Pires (Lyman Hall High School); Kaylynn Chen (Mark T. Sheehan High School); Irene Milite (Mercy High School); Drew Walker (Metropolitan Business Academy); Leah McMullen (Middletown High School); Kate Gardner (Morgan School); Sara Evans (Nathan Hale-Ray High School); Tasneem Musa (New Haven Academy); Jacob Poston (North Branford High School); Valerie Adams (North Haven High School); Alberto Torres (Notre Dame High School); Madison Lionello (Orville H. Platt High School); Trent Therriault (Oxford High School); Lillian Gaetani (Portland High School); Tycha Kelly (Riverside Education Academy); Giana Tolomeo (Sacred Heart Academy); Anuhya Shah (Seymour High School); Krishiv Patel (Shelton High School); William Faulkner (Sound School); Hudson Axelrod (West Haven High School); Julian Theodore (Wilbur L. Cross High School); and Patrick Manning (Xavier High School).
The event was made possible through the efforts of Yale Club of New Haven executive administrator Abby Klein and a group of Yale Club of New Haven Book Award Committee volunteers: Elaine Piraino-Holevoet ’75 (event chair), Timothy Bertaccini ’77, Christina Coffin ’74, Erin McCarthy King ’98, ’09 Ph.D., Karen King ’93, Patrick Pitoniak ’12, and Vincent Pitts ’69. Yale’s Office of New Haven Affairs and the Office of the President provided
financial support for the event.
