By Tyler Goff ’14, Staff Writer

Celebrated Newark Academy teacher Mr. Parlin was asked to lead an alumni book club discussion on September 23rd in the Eberstadt Room on a piece he was reading at the time, The Publisher: Henry Luce and His American Century. This biography by Alan Brinkley focuses on Henry Luce, the founder of influential magazines including Time and Life. According to Mr. Parlin, he read this book because of its personal appeal to him since he first saw pictures of the war in Life.

He acknowledges that “the book club meeting would have limited appeal” to many alumni, not attracting “great numbers [of them], only […] individuals.”  He reasons that the book discussed appeals mainly to an older audience since the older adults can relate more readily to the subject of the book. Mr. Parlin describes how “those who came [to the event] are old enough to have kids in this school,” remembering all of the alumni who attended the meeting, some of whom were once in his class. He also notes that though few in numbers, alumni who came to the book club had all read the book, although some read it more thoroughly than others.

Ten alums arrived at Newark Academy for the meeting; most of them were older alums from the local area. Another alumnus, who could not make it to the gathering, participated via Skype. Unfortunately, since this was the school’s first experiment at hosting a video chat for a book club event, it only worked to that extent that the alumnus could hear Mr. Parlin’s voice. The next alumni book club meeting is still pending Ms McGaughan and the Alumni Office’s decision.

Newark Academy Health and Public Speaking teacher Mr. Gertler, NA Class of 1990, offers his personal insight into these alumni events as a whole. Mr. Gertler agrees with most that “alumni events are a great way for other alumni to reconnect,” and he follows his own advice by attending every alumni event he can. Mr. Gertler believes that a small number of people went to the alumni book club only because of its newness compared to more established events such as the alumni Homecoming Reunion.

In addition, Mr. Gertler agrees with Mr. Parlin in that “certain events appeal only to a certain age group.” He notes that some of the more successful alumni events such as Networking Night (on January 6th of this coming year) are geared towards younger alums, where they have the opportunity to find jobs in the businesses of older Newark Academy graduates.  Such events are especially important in light of the national economic situation. Mr. Gertler strongly believes that the next alumni book club event will not have to be improved because “the advancement office does an outstanding job especially of evaluating, adapting, and adding new, different, and exciting events.”