Bridge Mentioned at Amherst College 2025 Commencement Speech
On May 25th, I graduated from Amherst College and had the privilege of listening to Tom Ye, our senior class speaker, deliver a fantastic commencement speech. In his speech, he shares three lessons, one of which is what bridge teaches us about life.
I recommend watching the whole speech, but there are time stamps to get to just the bridge section, which can standalone. You can find the speech here:
https://youtu.be/r3pp1JJL-g8?si=ldp9g9SjJBepxdE8
A little bit of background on Tom Ye. My freshmen year, with the support of Mitch Dunitz collegiate program, I brought together a bunch of my friends to teach them bridge. Tom was part of the first cohort, and he came in knowing nothing about the game. We started off casual, informally meeting every Sunday for an hour. But as weeks passed, my students, particularly Tom, would begin to stay for 2 hours or more. Then the summer following freshmen year, the Summer Nationals in Providence was nearby, which Tom helped convince a couple of others to go attend. From then on, Tom was hooked. Sophomore year, Tom took the charge of making our group an official registered club. He then took the initiative of planning a club trip to the Spring Nationals in New Orleans, a tournament which I was going to attend regardless but would never have thought to bring my freshly blooded students along with. Since then, Tom has been involved in organizing nearly every major event, from the Spring Nationals in Louisville and Memphis, to the Amherst Collegiate tournament.
When I first began spreading the game at Amherst, I used to think it would forever be a solo endeavor. Needless to say, I am incredibly proud of how Tom, who mind you came from a zero bridge background, helped made the Amherst Bridge Club a success.
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You can find our Amherst Bridge Club social media here: https://www.instagram.com/acbridgeclub/
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