Courtesy of Angel Almazán

Yale’s four cultural centers opened their doors to over 950 high school students from across the country this Saturday.

The Office of Undergraduate Admissions partnered with the Afro-American Cultural Center, the Asian American Cultural Center, La Casa and the Native American Cultural Center to host the annual Multicultural Open House, or MOH. 

The event connected prospective applicants and families with cultural center staff and student affiliates for a day of performances, presentations, panels and conversations in the four centers. It also featured campus tours, research presentations and resource panels for all prospective students. Admissions office representatives told the News that they hope to make the program more accessible in the future to students from all parts of the country.

“We were pleased to see over 950 guests join us Saturday for the Multicultural Open House, a daylong event designed to introduce students and their families to the many ways to find belonging on campus,” Dara Norwood, director of Multicultural Recruitment and associate director of Undergraduate Admissions wrote in an email to the News. “Through campus tours, research presentations, student and resource panels, student performances, and open houses at the cultural centers, Yale students, faculty, and staff highlighted the multi-layered communities that make Yale such a special place.”

The event began with registration in Dwight Hall and campus tours — which were offered in English, Spanish and Mandarin. Next, students attended a welcome address and panel on diversity of experience in Battell Chapel, before departing for lunch at Commons in the Schwarzman Center. 

In the afternoon, students had the opportunity to attend open houses at each of Yale’s four cultural centers.

After two years of virtual programming during the COVID-19 pandemic, the MOH returned to an in-person format in 2022 and remained in-person this year.

According to Moira Poe, director of Strategic Priorities and senior associate director of Admissions, the virtual programming in 2020 and 2021 allowed the admissions office to connect with students across the country who may not have been able to attend the program in person in New Haven. Inspired by this broad virtual reach, the office is looking to make an in-person Multicultural Open House accessible to students from all across the country in the coming years, Poe said.

“While we are thrilled to return to a fully in-person program, we still want the ability to introduce students to our cultural centers and resources even if a student lives in Texas, California, or Montana,” Poe wrote in an email to the News. “To do this, we plan to expand MOH to include a full fly-in component next year for select prospective students.”

With a full fly-in component, Yale would cover the travel expenses for prospective students to fly into New Haven to attend the program, according to Mark Dunn ’07, senior associate director for outreach and recruitment at the Office of Undergraduate Admissions.  

For the first time this year, the admissions office piloted an overnight program as a part of MOH — “MOHvernight” — pairing Yale student hosts with prospective students from New Haven and Hartford, Poe said. She said that students enjoyed the overnight program, and the office hopes to expand it in the future.

Eileen Galvez, director of La Casa, emphasized the importance of expanding the MOH’s reach beyond regional guests. Lizbeth Lozano ’25, a peer liaison for La Casa, and Jordan Sahly ’24, a peer liaison at the Native American Cultural Center both wrote to the News, echoing Galvez’s sentiments. Comments from the students are personal and not on behalf of La Casa or the NACC.

Lozano wrote that she would like to see the event made more accessible to prospective FGLI students from non-local communities.

“We know that many students find it intimidating to apply or believe that Yale is out of their reach, and thus, do not apply; when in reality, they would make excellent Yale applicants,” Galvez wrote in an email to the News. “It is important to expand MOH from being a regional event, to a national one so that we can dispel these myths and present Yale as an option in which students from all backgrounds and life experiences should apply to.”

Prospective students and families visited one or more cultural centers, where they engaged in center-specific activities and programming.

The Native American Cultural Center is regularly open for normal business hours on Saturday, so they did not host special programming; instead, the goal was to allow visitors to see the NACC as it typically functions, according to Matthew Makomenaw, director of the center. 

“It was just really an opportunity for families and students to see the NACC as they would experience it, with students studying in one room and making food in another and singing karaoke in a different room,” he said. “It was an opportunity to tour the space, and really get a sense of our staff and our center.”

Makomenaw said that the NACC saw more of a turnout at this year’s MOH than in years’ past. This increase in turnout was likely due to the fact that the admissions office helped guide prospective students to the locations of each of the cultural centers, rather than simply giving them a schedule as in past years, Makomenaw said.

Jordan Sahly shared that his favorite part of the day was an interaction he had with a mixed-Cherokee family.

“When I started talking to them about our new Cherokee language class and showed them the Cherokee flags on our Wall of Nations, their faces lit up and they had tons of follow-up questions for me,” Sahly wrote to the News, referring to a Yale College course that debuted this term.

Minh Vu, who serves as the interim assistant director of the AACC, said that the center adopted a similarly freeform approach to the event and saw a turnout of around 175 students.

According to Vu, the AACC had two opt-in stations on Saturday — a prize-wheel that students could spin for AACC merch and a workshop and demonstration for students to learn tinikling, a traditional Philippine folk dance.

“Most of the ‘programming’ for the afternoon simply consisted of casual conversations between the prospective applicants and our wonderful AACC student staffers who shared their experiences as Yale undergraduates and with the college admissions process,” Vu wrote in an email to the News. “Many students and families were excited and comforted by how the AACC can be a space of casual gathering, and not just for student organizations”

Timeica Bethel, Director of the Afro-American Cultural Center, told the News that the House had a turnout of over 170 students and parents during its open house.

The Af-Am House’s programming consisted of student-led tours covering the history of the House, as well as a student panel led by five Black Yalies, Bethel told the News.

“Panelists represented the wide diversity of the Black Diaspora at Yale, and started by answering questions prepared by our House staff regarding their experiences on campus, academic interests, affiliations with House resident groups, and more,” Bethel wrote in an email to the News. 

Following the panel, they opened the floor to the attendees for a Q&A session. 

According to Bethel, many students asked about application advice, particularly in light of the Supreme Court’s decision to strike down affirmative action in college admissions. 

“The panelists did their best to assuage the concerns and assure students and parents that Yale will continue to prioritize admitting a diverse student body,” Bethel wrote. 

For La Casa, the open house consisted of tours and Q&A sessions led by La Casa Peer Liaisons, as well as a student showcase featuring performances from Mariachi Lux et Veritas and Tertulia, according to Galvez. Galvez added that she participated in a panel called “Voices from the Yale Community.”

According to Galvez, prospective students were excited about the “vibrant” arts culture available to all students at Yale. She said that her favorite part of the day was being able to talk directly with prospective parents, many of whom she was able to speak to in Spanish.

Vu said that many students who identified multiracially were pleased with how connected each of the four cultural centers were to one another, adding that many students said they were able to visit all four cultural centers during the two-hour-long event.

“When families send their students off to college, they’re really looking, as caretakers, for a space that’s going to take care of their student,” Makomenaw said. “It’s really important to see the spaces on campus that students might be able to go to and meet the different deans and resources on campus available to incoming students at Yale. I think that it’s a real personal touch and creates comfort for families as they make their decision about where they’re going to send somebody.”

Another La Casa peer liaison, Karla Perdomo Nuñez ’26 — whose comments are also personal and do not necessarily represent the views of La Casa — wrote that she thinks Yale should have staggered programming to facilitate more individual time with families and students.

Nevertheless, Nuñez wrote that the MOH was an exciting opportunity to connect with prospective students and show them the support systems and vibrant cultural communities that Yale offers.

“It was so rewarding to see so many students and families travel to New Haven to explore Yale’s diverse, supportive, and dynamic communities,” Jeremiah Quinlan, dean of Undergraduate Admissions and Financial Aid, wrote in an email to the News. “I look forward to even more expansive Multicultural Open House programming in the coming years.”

The Afro-American Cultural Center was founded in 1969 and is Yale College’s first cultural center.