New Haven’s churches have been hosting Holy Week events since Sunday, as most have been commemorating Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Sunday with worship services. Maundy or Holy Thursday refers to the night of the Last Supper within the Christian tradition, while Good Friday marks the day of Jesus’ crucifixion on the cross. Easter is the final celebration of Jesus’ resurrection, signifying new life and promise for many Christians.

“Easter is a time full of hope,” Rev. Stephen Holton DIV ’11 of Christ Church told the News. “We see the brokenness of a world that would try to kill the very love that God reveals in Jesus Christ. I’m not sure that the world has changed a whole lot from there, but we can rejoice in the resurrection, and that’s an exciting thing.”

Christ Church’s Holy Week program began with a series of events to commemorate Palm Sunday on March 24, including a blessing of the palms and a procession. This was followed by a Tenebrae service on Holy Wednesday, an event in which candles are gradually extinguished in the Church to mark the Bargain of Judas. On Thursday evening, a high mass, footwashing and stripping of the altar took place, in preparation for the final three days of Holy Week. 

Holton emphasized the importance of allowing time for rest and personal reflection amid the busy Holy Week. Each year, Good Friday and Easter cause financial markets to close, which Holton said, for him, mirrors how Jesus’ death literally halts the world in the scripture.  

“It’s a wonderful marker in a world that never stops when we can slow down and gather together to mark that moment, and then just two days later to gather again to mark the moment when love can’t be stopped,” Holton said, referring to the crucifixion and the resurrection.

Another of New Haven’s Episcopal churches, Trinity on the Green, is hosting a variety of similar events throughout the week. For Maundy Thursday, the church held a service for its Chapel on the Green community, composed of people living in or around the New Haven Green, some of whom are experiencing homelessness, hunger and poverty. The service included a foot washing clinic and a health fair in collaboration with the Cornell Scott-Hill Health Center.

On Friday, Trinity on the Green will host a three-hour event called “The Seven Last Words of Christ,” which will include preaching and music encouraging reflection on Jesus’ last words before the crucifixion. Friday evening’s event will consist of a solemn liturgy during which candles will be illuminated at the foot of the Church’s cross. An Easter vigil on Sunday night will close the Holy Week celebrations at Trinity. 

“What’s powerful about Easter is the way that that theme of resurrection cuts across people from all backgrounds,” said Trinity Church Reverend Heidi Thorsen DIV ’19. “People who are dealing with mental health or homelessness need the resurrection, but also people who’ve been watching the news about violence in the world need resurrection.”

Thorsen also spoke about Lent, a forty-day period preceding the Holy Week during which many Christians give up an element of their daily lives to allow space for a greater connection to God in preparation for Easter. The forty days of Lent are related to the forty days that Jesus Christ spent wandering through the wilderness in the Bible. Thorsen highlighted the importance of embracing this spirit of wandering and uncertainty during Lent to allow for greater reflection and intentionality in life. 

The Blessed Michael McGivney Parish is the only Catholic parish in New Haven and includes all of the city’s Catholic churches. While events and mass times vary among churches, most will hold services Thursday through Sunday of the Holy Week. 

Included in the Parish are St. Anthony Church, which offers mass in both English and Spanish to accommodate its Latine community, and St. Stanislaus, a Polish Catholic church. On Saturday, St. Stanislaus will host a blessing of Easter food, a Polish tradition in which people bring baskets of the food they will prepare on Easter Day to be blessed by the priest.

This year will be the first Easter in which all of New Haven’s Catholic churches celebrate together as one after merging under the Blessed Michael McGivney Parish. According to Parish Communications Director Emily Naylor, this merging occurred in response to changes in church operations on the part of the Archdiocese of Hartford, the ecclesiastical district to which all New Haven Catholic churches belong. 

Discussing the merging of churches, Naylor spoke about the diversity of the Catholic Church’s community. 

“I think it’s beautiful that we’re able to bring all those different traditions and languages, again not eliminating any of it, but bringing it together in this beautiful way,” Naylor told the News. “God’s love and grace transcends any language.”

There are 395 Christian nonprofit organizations registered in New Haven. 

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The Valentine’s Day-themed event will be the orchestra’s first-ever formal showcase. La Orquesta Tertulia, formerly a low-profile group on campus, is Yale’s premier salsa and merengue Latin band. This year, leaders said that the Orquesta is aiming to establish a more formal presence on campus. 

“We’re basically inviting the audience to dance and fall in love with each other and us and to experience the atmosphere of amor,” said Risha Chakraborty ’25, a trumpet player and one of the Orquesta’s three band leaders.

Chakraborty joined the Orquesta as a first year, when the band, still operating informally, was revived from a period of inactivity spurred by the pandemic. As she is not Latina, the experience served as her first exposure to salsa and merengue music, which has since become her favorite genre to play, she said. Now, the group is undergoing a second revival, spearheaded by Chakraborty and her fellow bandleaders. 

While the group was founded 10 years ago, until now it has operated mostly informally, performing a few songs at events hosted by other groups on campus. This showcase, however, will be hosted by the Orquesta itself, inaugurating a more formal presence on campus for the group and launching its partnership with La Casa Cultural. 

This process of formalization will allow the Orquesta greater access to funding from University organizations, as well as more opportunities for collaboration with other performing groups on campus. By affiliating with La Casa in particular, the orchestra’s leaders said they hope that the group can reach a wider audience and further integrate itself into Yale’s Latine community. 

“It’s important to have organizations like these on campus to represent what is a substantial and growing demographic within the United States more generally and, in particular, within the Yale community as well,” Frederick Rivas-Giorgi ’26 told the News. 

Rivas-Giorgi, a pianist and another of the Orquesta’s co-band leaders, shared that with the recent influx of Caribbean — specifically Venezuelan — immigrants entering the United States, salsa music has become more popular around the country.

Yale’s Latine student population is also at an all-time high, with about one out of every five students in the Class of 2027 identifying as Latine. Rivas-Giorgi said he believes that this increasing diversity on both the national and campus levels makes the representation of different musical traditions with groups like the Orquesta even more necessary. 

“Noche de Amor” will combine the group’s passion for Latin American musical tradition with a celebration of Valentine’s Day, a holiday that echoes the themes of love and heartbreak presented in much of the group’s repertoire.  

“A lot of salsa, merengue music is about love,” said Chakraborty. “It’s about the different processes of love: breaking up, having really serious anger toward your ex … And [of] being so desperately in love with someone.”

The performance is set to highlight around ten songs — a much longer setlist than usual for the group — interspersed with skits. The skits follow two characters, played by Chakraborty and one of the Orquesta’s singers, as they fall in love. 

This is the first time that the Orquesta has attempted to combine its musical storytelling with acting, all under the umbrella of a Valentine’s Day theme. Given the holiday’s resonance with salsa and merengue music, group members like Eliana Cortez ’25, the third band leader, hope that this can become an annual tradition. 

“We’re telling a story with the songs that we chose,” said Cortez. 

Cortez and her fellow bandleaders shared that one of the most unique elements of salsa and merengue as orchestral genres is the way in which they inspire audience engagement. Unlike Western symphony orchestras, these Latin American musical styles encourage audiences to dance alongside musicians, changing the experience for audience members and performers alike. 

For this reason, the Orquesta selected the Grace Hopper Cabaret as the location for a performance, given the amount of space available for movement in the venue. Group members said they hope that the Cabaret can create a speakeasy-like setting for the audience to enjoy and engage with the Orquesta’s combination of song and skit. 

“Playing music for an audience that is designed to make them get up and dance and engage with the band is really, really fun,” Chakraborty concluded. 

Tickets for La Orquesta Tertulia’s shows on Friday at 8 p.m. and Saturday at 3 p.m. can be purchased through Yale Connect. 

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Seventeen Yale undergraduate a cappella groups fall under the representation of the University’s Singing Group Council. Many of these groups have long-standing Valentine’s Day traditions that will continue this season. 

“A bunch of people interested in a cappella and comedy in the same room… there’s bound to be some sparks flying,” wrote Joey Cumpian ’25, a member of the Yale Alley Cats, one of the a cappella groups that is preparing a show.

Red Hot Pussy Jam, a joint performance between The Alley Cats and Red Hot Poker, will be held at Sheffield-Sterling-Strathcona Hall on Feb. 17 at 9 p.m. This will be the second-annual Valentine’s Day collaboration between the TTBB — or Tenor I and II, Baritone and Bass — a cappella group and comedy club, an idea developed last year by suitemates Logan Foy ’25 and Chesed Chap ’25, respectively the Cats’ musical director and the director of Red Hot Poker. 

Cumpian, a member of The Alley Cats, described the performance as somewhat unconventional. 

“We like to think that our show breaks up this romantic month with a bit of humor and fun,” he wrote to the News. “Expect lots of raunchy comedy, a short but sweet set list of upbeat songs, and a LOT of new material that we’ve never done before.”

Cumpian also mentioned the possibility of premiering a new a cappella arrangement involving rap, as well as a short film screened at the show. With a significant portion of The Alley Cats’ repertoire being love songs, the performance is set to combine the more traditional elements of Valentine’s Day celebrations with humor and wit. 

One way in which the groups will subvert this traditionalism in their joint performance is by featuring some Cats in comedy sketches and throwing a few Red Hot Poker members into a cappella arrangements.

“It’s a beautiful marriage of sketch comedy and a cappella,” Chap, Red Hot Poker’s director, said. “I think a lot of our audience last year was really curious about what Red Hot Poker and The Alley Cats could possibly have in common, and they were really surprised with the experience.”

The Shades V-Day Jam is also on the horizon, with two performances on Feb. 9 and 10 taking place at 53 Wall St. Shades’ repertoire consists of musical arrangements from the African Diaspora and African American tradition. 

One of the a cappella group’s larger showcases of the year, it will include music from renowned artists Stevie Wonder, Rihanna and Sam Cooke.

Erin Kearney ’27, who joined Shades in the fall, encouraged audiences to take a break from the bustle of Yale and join the group in its celebration of love.

“You can expect sensuality, lots of energy, and all things romantic!!” Kearney wrote. “Valentine’s Day is a celebration of love and the joy and warmth that we are capable of bringing one another. That’s incredibly beautiful to me and I think it’s reflective of the energy we’re really trying to channel with V-Day Jam.” 

The Fifth Humour, Yale’s oldest sketch comedy club, will also be showcasing its talents with a performance at Trumbull Theater on Feb. 9. “Kissing Booth” is slated to include sketches centered around couples therapy and Cupid, along with other non-Valentine’s Day related humor.

Inspiration for the show’s title, reminiscent of the 2018 Netflix film starring Jacob Elordi and Joey King, arose when group members jokingly brought up the idea of setting up a kissing booth to fund the comedy club’s ventures, according to Dora Molot ’27. 

Molot encouraged audience members to leave their serious sides at the door, a tactic she often employs before her own performances.

“They can expect to giggle, maybe even to full-on laugh. And they can expect sexy,” Molot said. “As a group, our tendency is to write a little sexy anyways. I would say this is the sexy show.”

Something Extra and the New Blue, both SSAA —  or Soprano I and II and Alto I and II — a cappella groups, will also be making appearances around campus over the next two weeks to celebrate love.

Rather than a traditional performance, the New Blue is collecting singing Valentine’s orders, meaning that any Yale community member can request a love song to be performed to a person of their choosing, anywhere on campus. 

This year, the group will also be accepting virtual Valentine’s requests, in which a song performed by the New Blue is sent to a person’s inbox along with a note. Importantly, the identity of the sender can remain anonymous. 

Something Extra’s performance, entitled “Something SExy,” will take place on Feb. 15 at 53 Wall St. According to their group’s Instagram page, the performance will be “a raunchy, R-rated (respectful), and ridiculous take on collegiate a cappella.”

Details about the time and location of each group’s performance can be found on their respective public Instagram accounts.

The post A cappella groups and comedy clubs plan joint Valentine’s Day performances appeared first on Yale Daily News.

The Board met at the Barack Obama Magnet University School. In the first portion of the meeting, which allowed members of the public to voice concerns, part-time NHPS substitute teacher Abe Benghiat criticized the Board of Education for failing to raise teacher pay in accordance with Connecticut’s 2024 minimum wage increase from $15 per hour to $15.69. 

“I am beyond disappointed to be speaking to you yet again on substitute teacher issues,” Benghiat said to the Board. “The human resources department and the city as a whole has failed one of the most vulnerable employee populations by not raising the wage appropriately or in compliance with the Connecticut State Law.”

After Benghiat called for a reevaluation of the system that allowed this alleged neglect, the meeting continued without comment from Board members. 

Next on the agenda was the passage of proposals made by the Board’s Finance and Operations Committee earlier this month. These agreements included a partnership with a consulting group to ensure that NHPS meets the educational needs of its multilingual students and a decision to allocate a portion of school resources to trauma-informed counseling. 

Funding for professional development training for teachers was also included in agreements passed at the meeting, with an emphasis on how to boost student engagement in the classroom and facilitating a shift to block scheduling. Block scheduling means an increase in the duration of each class from 40-50 minutes to around 90-100 minutes, according to Education Advanced. It would also mean a decrease in the number of times classes meet per week. Board and Committee members hope that this increase will allow space for more independent student exploration of course topics.

“There ought to be a time where students can pursue their own interests within the context of … the course you’re teaching,” Board Member Dr. Edward Joyner said. “The three most important variables in learning are interest, attention and memory.” 

Allowing students more time during each class to pursue both required course material and their own related interests would boost both attention and memory in the classroom, Joyner added. NHPS lead librarian and union member Kim Rogers attended the meeting as a representative of Libraries for All, an organization that believes that each public school in New Haven deserves a librarian. Currently, she told the News, nine schools in the city have no librarians and 14 have just one part-time librarian shared between two schools. She connected this absence to New Haven children’s low reading scores. 

Rogers echoed Joyner’s point about the necessity of increasing student interest in learning, adding that all NHPS teachers have topics or books that they are required to teach. 

“That’s the work of reading and that’s fine,” Rogers said.“Having access to a librarian will allow them to have that interest … That’s the interest and that’s where the joy of reading comes from.”

Rogers also hoped that the agreements passed at the meeting would allow for better support of New Haven’s multilingual students.

“When we talk about serving all of our students, we … as a community, we are a sanctuary city, we are having people come here to be safe, to make a better life, because we find that important,” Rogers said. “But yet we haven’t been able to fully support that in our schools. That’s ’cause our schools are not fully funded.”

Another item on the meeting’s agenda was the development of a new strategic operating plan for NHPS. As described by Dr. Madeline Negrón, this multi-year plan would serve to advance student achievement at New Haven schools, relying on the exchange of ideas between the Board of Education’s subcommittees and the larger NHPS community of teachers, parents and students. While planning is already underway, community data collection will begin over the course of the next few weeks, with members of the public responding to surveys about what they believe needs to be changed within NHPS to further student achievement and development. 

This process will wield the power of artificial intelligence for the collection and analysis of data, as well as to allow anyone, including non-English speakers, to communicate their thoughts on the school system. AI will immediately translate community responses from the language in which they are written to English, making the process more accessible. 

During the meeting, Negrón paused to highlight New Haven’s Hillhouse High School graduate Constance Baker Motley, who had just been placed on the 47th Black Heritage Stamp by the US Postal Service for her contributions to Brown v. Board of Education. 

“Great things have always happened at the New Haven Public Schools,” Negrón said. “That is why I continue to speak about getting us to strive toward the next chapter of excellence.” 

NHPS has a budget of $207 million for the 2023-24 school year.

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