Senior Project: When Passions Converge

by Lin McNulty

Addie Newcombe is passionate about her chosen Senior Project.

When Orcas High School Senior Addie Newcombe selected her Senior Project, there was not much doubt that she would choose something to incorporate her passion for the Spanish language. “I love Spanish more than English,” she unashamedly admits.

Her eyes sparkle with contagious enthusiasm as she relates her experiences in learning Spanish for the last four years. And she has devoted her summers to just that. From attending an intensive Spanish workshop at Middlebury College in Vermont where only Spanish was allowed, to a residential home study program in Spain, to working as a secretary for a Spanish-speaking Women’s Health Clinic in Seattle, she has immersed herself wherever possible in this language.

Wanting to bring more Latino involvement to our local library, Newcombe harkened back to a book that was influential to her in early childhood, My Name is Maria Isabel, by Alma Flor Ada. When she first read it, she recalls, she was struggling with her reading and the book was a huge step forward in improving her skills. The story of Maria Isabel’s journey to regain her own identity in a new school environment stuck with her.

The author’s numer­ous English and Spanish children’s books of poetry, nar­ra­tive, folk­lore and non-fic­tion have received pres­ti­gious awards, including the 2012 Lit­er­ary Award of the Amer­i­can Asso­ci­a­tion of His­pan­ics in Higher Edu­ca­tion. As a Pro­fes­sor Emerita at the Uni­ver­sity of San Fran­cisco, and a for­mer Rad­cliffe Scholar at Har­vard Univer­sity and Ful­bright Research Scholar, she is an inter­na­tion­ally re-known speaker.

Wouldn’t it be great, Addie thought, to have Dr. Ada come to the Orcas Library! She contacted the Professor who was receptive to the details of Addie’s project and willingly waived her usual $4,000 speaking fee to come to Orcas Island on May 11 at 11 a.m. to read some of her works and speak in support of making the library more welcoming to our Latino community members.

Newcombe is very excited about the project and plans to give tours of the library (in Spanish) and hand out library cards on that day. She hopes to attract many of our estimated 30-some Spanish speakers and their families to the library.

In addition to her excitement about this project. Newcome notes she has learned some valuable organizational and planning skills. “I wanted to do something,” she says, “to help others—something I could look back on later.”