Ralph Waldo Emerson Scholar Headlines North Penn Speaker Series

LANSDALE, PA – The North Penn School District has launched a Speakers Series entitled “Celebrate the Arts,” funded by a grant from the North Penn School District Educational Foundation, they announced in a press release this week.

The speaker series will launch on Monday, October 24 at North Penn High School.

Wendell Refior, an independent Emerson scholar who bears an uncanny resemblance to the father of transcendentalism, will deliver the words and thoughts of Ralph Waldo Emerson to NPHS students and community members, the district said.

The community is invited to attend Refior’s presentation, a free event.

Refior reenacts Emerson sermons and orations in period costume.

On the 24th, he will deliver key passages of Emerson’s classic essay “Self-Reliance” to 11th and 12th grade Advanced Placement students in two in-school assemblies, the district said.

According to North Penn, he will also present Emerson’s “Address on Education” to the community later that evening.

The program is free and will begin at 7:30 p.m. in seminar room A33 at NPHS.

The goal of the speaker series, proposed by North Penn English teacher Janet Kratz,, is to highlight the accomplishments of writers, past and present, for students and the community. Future speakers will include the poet laureate of Philadelphia, Yolanda Wisher, NPHS Class of ’94, and a CBS news anchor.

Image courtesy North Penn School District.