Regular Activities
Monthly Dinners
Every month SSAY goes out for dinner to network and connect with the members. Monthly dinners are open to all. Please contact one of the presidents or a board member to learn when and where the next one will take place. En Guete!
Special Activities – Spring 2015
What Makes Innovation Tick? – Elmar Mock Event
On March 2, 2015, SSAY was excited to invite Elmar Mock, serial entrepreneur and co-inventor of Swatch to Yale. During a talk organized at the Yale School of Management, Mock shared his
experience looking at the Swatch revolution to describe what it takes for organizations seeking transformative change to ultimately transform themselves into innovation factories. Ambassador Andre Schaller, Consul General of Switzerland in New York, gave a short introduction. The talk was followed by refreshments and raclette organized by SSAY. Over 120 people attended the event.
SSAY Travelling to New York – Consulate & UN Visit
In April 2015, SSAY was invited to the Consulate General o
f Switzerland in New York City. The visit was followed by trip to the United Nations and the Swiss Institute for Contemporary Art in New York. It was a wonderful short excursion and we were overwhelmed by the hospitality of all the members of the Consulate General, who so warmly welcomed us and showed us a different, a little more Swiss side of NYC. Thank you Consulate General of Switzerland for the invitation!
Movie night – The Swissmakers
The last event of the year was on April 8, 2015 at the Sterling Law Building. SSAY organized a movie night featuring “the Swissmakers” and served New Haven Pizza. The theme of the movie was chosen to inform about important issues occuring in Switzerland. In this context it was the Swiss federal popular initiative “against mass immigration”, which was accepted by a majority of the electorate (50.3%) on February 9, 2014. About 35 people attended the event.
Special Acitivies – Fall 2015
Largest Rowing Boat Visits Yale – Melchior Buergin Event
In October 2015, SSAY was excited to host Melchior Buergin, former Swiss Olympic rower and former head of the Swiss rowing boat manufacturing company Staempfli. He was traveling with the 24-person Staempfli 24 Express, the world’s largest rowing boat which SSAY brought to Yale. The event included a lunch talk at the Yale School of Management on the topic TeamSpirit and two outings on the 24-person boat on the Housatonic River organized in collaboration with the Yale Graduate Crew and the New Haven Rowing Club. Over 70 people were actively engaged. The event was supported by Swissnex Boston. See more information featured in Yale News and the New Haven Registrar. 
Christmas Fondue Dinner
On December 7, 2015, SSAY organized a Fondue Night at the Office of International Students & Scholars (OISS) at Yale. A total number of 35 people a
ttended the dinner, ranging from undergraduates, graduate and professional students, to postdocs of various departments at Yale. The dinner was a great success, bringing together students of diverse backgrounds in their mutual love for melted cheese.
Participating at Yale McDougal Grad Activities Fair
Every year, SSAY represents its club at the 
McDougal Grad Activities Fair in the HGS courtyard to attract new members from the Yale community. Don’t miss us at the next Grad Activities Fair! Sign up to our mailing list and you get some Swiss chocolate to take home!
Special Activities – Spring 2016
Are You Wild by Nature? – Sarah Marquis Event
On March 2, 2016, SSAY was excited to invite Sarah Marquis, National Geographic Adventurer of 2014 and Swiss explorer, who has been walking almost non-stop for 23 years. After an Introduction by Ambassador Andre Schaller, Consul General of Switzerland in New York, she shared her experiences walking alone through the wilderness for 10,000 miles from polar Siberia to Australia. The talk was followed by a Q&A session with Parker Liautaud
(Davenport College Class of 2016, Yale) a polar adventurer and environmental campaigner who completed the fastest human-powered trek from the coast of Antarctica to the South Pole. After the talk, SSAY offered refreshments and raclette while Sarah Marquis was signing her book “Wild by Nature”. The event was a big success with over 150 people attending.
Representing Switzerland at Yale Intercultural Ball
In April 2016, Yale’s undergraduate International Students Organization (ISO) invited international students to share typical
dishes from their home countries at the first ISO Intercultural Ball. SSAY was also invited, which became the opportunity for Angela, Julie, and Christian to show other international students how delicious Spätzli and Zopf can be! The event was a large success, with dozens of students eating delicious Swiss food, and learning about the SSAY.
Panel on “Living and Working in Switzerland”
SSAY members were invited to share their experiences and give advice on living and working in Switzerland by the EuroSOM Club, a European student club at the Yale School of Management. Attendees were interested in learning more about finances (wages, taxes, living costs), how to navigate a multilingual country, how to integrate as a foreigner in professional and social circles, and what to do for leisure. EuroSOM organized this event after Switzerland was voted the country most Yale MBAs wanted to learn more about in a survey.