By Danielle Sidi ’14, Staff Writer

The annual Joyce Abney Spring Celebration, in association with the Global Speaker Series, presented Sam Lardner and his band Barcelona. This was not Lardner’s first time at Newark Academy; he came and performed at the beginning of his music career. However, years later his style of music has changed and is quite unique. The band has a different sound than most because they mix two different genres together: flamenco and American folk music. His overall presentation tied together the two different cultures of the United States and Spain, especially when the band’s breakout sessions were both in Spanish and in English.

Lardner’s desire to travel the world and his love for languages came from his childhood Spanish teacher. He studied languages in college and even spent a semester abroad in Russia. Later, looking for a change in scenery, Lardner and his family moved to Barcelona, Spain. It was there that he started his experimentation with music and found the other members of his band. His experience in Spain and his love for learning about new cultures reinforces the meaning of Newark Academy’s immersion program. Tyler Park ’14 said, “It opened my eyes to the many things that can be accomplished abroad and I might look into that in the future. I think he was trying to stress that you can accomplish things in ways you have not ever envisioned by expanding your horizons.”

His  informal presentation style: part concert part question and answer was quite interactive and well received by the Newark Academy Community. Tyler Park’14 commented, “I thought it was better than most global speakers. It was definitely unique and I enjoyed hearing both music and conversation. It was more engaging than most hour long assemblies.”

Overall committee-member Sabrina Merold ’13 thought this year had an extremely successful Global Speakers Series. She admitted, “In the past couple years there was a lack of diversity. Jeff Lieberman was extremely important in setting the precedent for successful speakers in the area of science. Furthermore, Sam Lardner immersed the community in the culture of Spain through music, which was equally as powerful.” In addition, Mr. Kanarek said the Global Speakers Series Committee wanted to end the year on a lighter, spring-themed note. “It was successful and had a new music and cultural component. We wanted to broaden the horizons, have speakers for the science, arts and language departments. This year we wanted to have ‘Do-ers’, as they are more compelling speakers.”

Next year, the committee hopes to progress further by getting feedback from students and suggestions from clubs. They want to continue to diversify the speakers to keep the community interested. The committee’s main goal, however, is to get the Newark Academy community more involved in selecting speakers.