Jonathan Edwards Trust Reunion Newsletter 2026
May 2026
Dear Jonathan Edwards Alumni, Fellows, and Friends,
I am excited to share with you a mid-year 2026 reunion newsletter from the JE Trust. The Trust strives to enhance the experience of our JE community—the students, fellows, and alumni, as well as the friends of JE we have made over our many decades. You’ll read in this newsletter an update about the College and a spotlight on two current and former JE students as they reflect on shared and evolving JE experiences.
I also would like to take this opportunity to encourage you to reconnect with your JE classmates and fellow alums at the Trust’s annual JE reunion-weekend events from 6-6:45 pm on May 23rd and May 30th. Reunion-year alums should have received an email with more information, or you can read more about this year’s events here (weekend 1 and weekend 2).
Thank you to the team of JE’s own Lydia Burleson JE ’21, Masu Haque Khan JE ’95, and Barney Latimer JE ’93, who worked to create a reunion-themed newsletter for the first time this year. Please let us know what you think.
Yours in JE,
Miko McGinty JE ’93
Chair, the Jonathan Edwards Trust
Note from the JE Dean: Spring 2026
Greetings Jonathan Edwards College Alumni:
I am delighted to provide you with a Spring update on our beloved college at the request of the JE Trust. Let me begin by saying what an honor and privilege it is to serve as the Dean of Jonathan Edwards College, the very best college at Yale (a fact you are all well-acquainted with as alumni)! Now in our second year at JE, my family and I are fully settled in—though we have felt a deep sense of belonging since day one, and it has only continued to grow. The Robles family is truly happy and grateful to be part of such an extraordinary community, one defined not only by some of the brightest students at Yale, but also by some of the most compassionate.
This year, we welcomed the Class of 2029, a group of energetic, curious, and inspiring students. They are guided by an exceptional FroCo team: Semona Robel, Zoey Duan, Alejandra Mendez, Britney Gramajo Barrios, Clarissa Tan, Daliya Ali El Abani, Hang Chen, and Tomás Fuchs-Lynch. This remarkable group embodies the very best of JE, and we are grateful for their leadership and care. From first years to seniors, our students bring life to every corner of the college, to beloved spaces like the dining hall, theater, dance studio, gym, art gallery, courtyard, and, of course, the Buttery. Speaking of the Buttery, I highly recommend trying two standout menu items: the Roblesadilla and the Markswich.
JE students are deeply engaged in extracurricular activities, and I am continually amazed at how they manage to do it all. A growing number of them are playing intramural sports, representing JE in everything from kan jam, volleyball, soccer, and ping pong to cornhole, spike ball, basketball, and broomball. Last fall, our flag football team won the championship, and in the previous spring, our basketball team took home the title. No matter the activity, what stands out most is our students’ enthusiasm and joy.
Our traditions remain at the heart of our community. Wet Monday, an epic water fight between the frosh and all the other JE students, continues to be one of our most well-attended and cherished events. The Paskus-Mellon Forum, where recipients of Mellon research grants present their findings, fosters intellectual curiosity and meaningful dialogue. Sunday Family Dinners, reserved for JE students, regularly fill the dining hall to capacity, offering students a chance to reconnect and share a meal together.
We also take great pride in celebrating together. Holidays such as Halloween and Thanksgiving bring our community even closer, as students embrace the festive spirit and enjoy the vibrant decorations throughout the college. In my first year as Dean, I introduced a salsa dancing community event, called salsa con salsa, that was so successful we held another one this year and hope to see it become a new JE tradition.
Of course, no community is without its challenges. Our students do experience moments of difficulty, when they face mental-health challenges and, for some first-year students, homesickness. However, we are fortunate to have a strong network of support in place. Our students are resilient, they care for one another, and they seek help when they need it.
Every day, I feel fortunate to be part of this incredible community. One of the greatest joys of my role is connecting with students, whether through scheduled meetings to discuss complex matters or through spontaneous conversations over coffee (or espresso, thanks to the machine in my office, which has become quite popular). These moments of connection are what make this work so meaningful.
Each week, the Robles Report keeps our students informed and connected. It highlights important updates, policies, events, and study tips, and it includes lighter elements such as shout-outs, photos of the week, and a bit of humor. It has become a meaningful touchpoint in our shared experience.
Finally, none of this would be possible without the incredible people who support our students every day. Our fellows, faculty advisers, resident fellows, graduate affiliates, facilities staff, and dining-hall team all play vital roles behind the scenes. At the heart of it all are some names that might be familiar to more recent alumni: Jill, Nicole, Gygi, and Shannon are the backbone of our community. We are also fortunate to have Mark Saltzman back as Head of College, providing his unique brand of steady and thoughtful leadership. It is a privilege to share the responsibility of the college’s stewardship with him.
JE is a family. We support one another, especially in difficult times. Our students are also deeply aware of the broader challenges facing our global community, and they are committed to making real and lasting change in the world, as many of you JE alumni who came before them have done and continue to do. I hope to meet some of you and hear your stories about your time in JE at the Trust’s reunion meet-ups this summer, and I look forward to continuing to serve our students and to honoring all that Jonathan Edwards College stands for.
With best wishes,
Yaser Robles
Jonathan Edwards Dean
Reunion Spotlights: Hang Nguyen JE ’21 MD ’25 and Catalina Ossmann JE ’27
Hang Nguyen JE ’21 MD’25 and Catalina Ossmann JE ’27 discuss their experiences of JE, both past and present. Hang and Catalina both chose to be JE FroCos (first-year counselors) and pre-med students at Yale. Their conversation, which explores their shared interests and love for the college, highlights the evolution of community in JE.
Catalina Ossmann Feature
Hang Nguyen (hereafter HN): So, you are a rising senior, what’s your major?
Catalina Ossmann (hereafter CO): Yes, I’m a rising senior. I’m in cognitive science with a neuroscience concentration. I’ve always been really interested in neuro, and COGSci was the perfect place for me to study philosophy and linguistics together with neuroscience.
HN: Where do you live in JE?
CO: I live in the Southside, above the library. It’s all girls in my space, so our rooms are decorated with fairy lights, and fabric, and you can see them from the courtyards. Our best friends live right below us in the octet, so that’s been nice. The FroCos are going to be living in Bingham next year.
HN: Why did you decide to become a FroCo?
CO: When I was in my first year, my FroCos were just so wonderful, so one month into my time at Yale, I knew I wanted to be a FroCo myself. Mentoring has always been a huge part of my life. In high school, I started a mentorship program for middle-school girls, and now, in college, being a FroCo is such a unique opportunity to walk new students through a really huge change in their life. Also, I just love JE. In other residential colleges, many students have moved off campus by senior year, and the community is not that close. I’ve found the opposite to be true in JE. Being a Froco is the pinnacle of that.
HN: What are your interests within medicine?
CO: I would love to do orthopedics or something surgical. I’m currently shadowing in the pediatric surgery unit at Yale New Haven Hospital, which has been such an interesting experience. I don’t really know what a dream job would be, maybe something like an orthopedics position working for an NFL team, something sports-medicine-related.
HN: Do you play sports?
CO: I did a lot in high school. I’m six feet tall, so I make this joke that I’ve played every single sport in the book, but nothing really stuck. So hopefully my medical career will keep me involved in athletics.
HN: What are your core JE memories?
CO: One of my favorite JE memories was my first Wet Monday. I remember army crawling underneath the courtyard benches, and just thinking that this is an insane experience. But most of the best memories have involved my massive friend group, which always eats together in the dining hall. Everyone calls us the JE Juniors, which is funny because we’re such a small college, but the community that we’ve formed has just been so tightly knit.
HN: What are you looking forward to in your senior year?
CO: I’m looking forward to being a FroCo, and to being the oldest undergrads on campus. I’m excited to spend this last year with my friends. It’s just hitting home that these are the shortest, gladdest years of life. The world is my oyster!
Hang Nguyen Feature
CO: Where are you right now?
HN: I’m in Boston. I am a first-year anesthesiology resident at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.
CO: What did you major in?
HN: Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology. I did exactly what I needed to do for my major requirements, and then everything else was for fun. My favorite class was “intro watercolor painting” with Professor Van Doren. I also studied West African dance. And I took Japanese, Czech, and German.
CO: And where did you live in JE?
HN: I lived in a few places, including the Princess Suite in entryway H, which was very cute, and A21. When I was a FroCo, I lived in the octet. That was a weird year because it was COVID, so the frosh lived in JE, not Farnam.
CO: What made you decide to apply to be a FroCo?
HN: I’ve always liked to be involved in my community. I was also first gen and low income—the first generation in my family to go to college. Even though Yale is such a supportive environment, there’s not a ton of people who come from my background, so it was important to me to be that person for others from similar backgrounds. I had such a fun time as a FroCo, and I actually just got back from having a coffee chat with one of my frosh who was visiting Boston. I still call them my kids, even though they’re fully grown adults.
CO: How did you choose anesthesiology and pre-med in general?
HN: At Yale, I volunteered at Yale New Haven Hospital on the pediatric oncology floor, and I was really inspired by the work. Medicine combines everything I looked for in a job—you get the humanity aspect, the hands-on aspect, and you also get a very stable career, which being first-generation was something I was also looking for. Entering med school, I thought I was going to be a surgeon, and then a gastroenterologist. I did a few different rotations. I luckily found a great research mentor in anesthesia, and I really came to like the field. I’m glad I chose it because I love working with my hands and I love working with people.
CO: What are your core JE memories?
HN: Living in my junior-year suite was my favorite time in my entire undergraduate career. We were hosting an international student in our suite for a year, and we didn’t know what to expect, and for some reason, we all became best friends, and it was so much fun. We spent a lot of time together eating ramen in our common room and dying of laughter while studying. It was a good time. And then COVID hit, and then we had to say goodbye. But it was so lovely.
CO: What are you excited about for your five-year reunion?
HN: The nice thing about Yale is I stayed friends with the people I wanted to stay friends with, but it will also be nice to see everyone else whom I haven’t had the time to see since graduating. I’m excited to just see where people’s lives have taken them, and to see my society friends. I’m also excited to go to the Masquerade Ball. We never had one my senior year because of COVID. [The Masquerade Ball is a tradition where graduating seniors wear masks at a final all-class party].
CO: That’s so exciting. It’s like your final year of college all over again.
Thank You!
Thank you for reading the JE Trust’s 2026 reunion newsletter. As with our annual newsletter sent around in the winter, this project seeks to foster connection among all JE alumni by reflecting on our varied and enriching experiences in the singular home for learning and life that is Jonathan Edwards College. Please see below for ways to connect with the Trust:
- The Trust is always glad to hear from the JE community. If you have feedback about the newsletter, including suggestions about how to improve it, please share your thoughts here.
- To learn more about the JE Trust, please take a look at our website here. If you would like to support the Trust’s work on behalf of the college, you can do so here.
- If you are interested in obtaining a copy of The Spiders’ Way, a beautifully written and illustrated history of the college, you can find information here.
- Our ongoing collaboration with Campus Customs has recently transitioned to a year-round storefront (woo hoo!) You can find it linked directly here. If you’d like to learn more about the designs featured in the store, you can visit the store webpage on the JE Trust site, which has an archive of the stories behind the resurrected vintage designs.
- We’d like this newsletter to reach all JE alumni readers; however, we are missing quite a few alumni emails. Please feel free to forward this newsletter to fellow JE alumni, friends, or family who you think may not be receiving it. New readers who would like to receive future Trust communications, including the annual newsletter, can subscribe directly to Trust communications here. We also encourage you to ensure your information is up-to-date in the Yale alumni directory, which we use to reach out to JE alumni.
Happy reunion time to all from the Jonathan Edwards Trust!
Best wishes,
Masu Haque-Khan, JE ’95
Vice-Chair, the Jonathan Edwards Trust