Everybody deals with a long car ride differently. For Mr. Jason Sammartino, Faculty Academy Leader and English teacher, listening to music is the best way to pass the time. After a day of teaching, Sammartino drives an hour home to South Philadelphia every day. However, it isn’t so simple for Sammartino—in an effort to spice up his music catalogue, he asks for an album recommendation from one community member every day.

“My album challenge started on the first day of school. In the past, I’ve gotten in this rut of listening to the same playlist, albums, or collection of songs every day, and I realized at the end of last year that it was negatively impacting my drive. To not have the decision [of what to listen to on my ride] at the end of the day this year was nice,” Sammartino said.

Each day, Sammartino asks a random student or faculty member and receives vastly different types of albums. From Hip Hop to Electronic Dance Music to Folk, Sammartino accepts any recommendation a community member gives him. 

“My favorite part of this experiment has been the conversations that come as a result of listening to album recommendations. For a long time, I was trying to not have any repeats of people asking, but that was getting pretty difficult, especially if it’s not on my mind all day. I would have to seek someone out or realize when I got to my car at the end of the day that I hadn’t asked anybody, turn around, and come back inside school to find someone,” Sammartino said.

Building off the conversations that Sammartino has shared with many students and faculty members, he’s also seen a community built around music start to form, something that really excites him.

“It’s really been a nice way for me to build community through music, something that has always meant a lot to me… I think talking about music has always been how I make my best friends in life. It’s such a natural door opener to share 45 minutes of a music album with somebody. It doesn’t need to be simultaneous, but, yeah, let’s listen to it. After that, let’s talk about it,” Sammartino said.

This type of music listening isn’t common for adults and teens worldwide. Many people curate playlists with only their favorite songs rather than listening to full albums. For this reason, many students struggle when asked to recommend a full album. Sammartino noted that this was one of his biggest challenges.

“It kind of bums me out when I ask people and they can’t make a suggestion; it’s very disappointing. When I grew up in the late 90s and early 2000s, I would have a wallet full of CDs every day. That was just part of my daily commute,” Sammartino said.

Though Sammartino avoids rating or judging the suggested albums, he highlighted some of his favorite suggestions: Stick Season Deluxe by Noah Kahan and 50 Cent’s Get Rich or Die Tryin’. Malvern senior Tim Fridirici has also been an avid participant in Sammartino’s album challenge by suggesting 3 albums. Fridirici and Sammartino’s conversations have progressed to general music and life advice far beyond the album challenge, a wonderful benefit from having such an easy conversation starter like an album.

“I’ve recommended two Beatles albums and one Bob Dylan album, and we’ve talked a lot about them… I’ve also taken recommendations. If it weren’t for Mr. Sammar, I wouldn’t have listened to Bob Dylan or any music like his… He’s taught me a lot about how to look at music,” Fridirici said.

Sammartino included when he has his most enjoyable listening experiences.

“It’s such a fun listen when someone throws you a curveball. It’s really neat to see the range of all the recommendations I’ve received. It may be coincidental, but the average release year of all these albums is 2004, my high school graduation year,” Sammartino said.

Thanks to a Google Sheet where he tracks each recommendation, he’s also noticed a shift in musical trends amongst the Malvern community.

“The resurgence of the 90s has been wonderful to see happen. I’ve had a lot of suggestions from students this year of Alice in Chains, Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins, Notorious B.I.G. , Oasis, and more. It’s been really cool to see how music comes back around… The lack of modern music from 2024 and 2025 has been even more noteworthy to me,” Sammartino said.

Upper School English Teacher Mrs. Kathryn Wolstenholme spoke of her experience recommending albums and discussing music with Sammartino.

“I have recommended Mr. Sammartino two albums this year, Pet Sounds (1966) by the Beach Boys and New Moon Shine (1991) by James Taylor. They both elicit strong memories from my childhood. Mr. Sammartino was very familiar with the Beach Boys’ album, but New Moon Shine was new to him. We had a follow-up conversation about New Moon Shine and how meaningful that album and some of the songs on it are to me and how much nostalgia it stirs. For me, this is one of the most beautiful things about music: it can bring people together in a shared experience and elicit memories stronger than almost anything else,” Wolstenholme said. 

Though initially unsure whether he’d continue this challenge next year, Sammartino has now decided to do so. It all boils down to community for Sammartino—his challenge is a great way to find and make connections with the help of music.

“I don’t want to rate anything that I’ve been given. An important element is that it’s not judgemental; it’s just to listen to. There’s a quote: ‘Art decorates space, and music decorates time.’ I have this hour-long drive every day, and it’s neat to get it decorated by somebody else,” Sammartino said.

Follow along with the rest of Sammartino’s album challenge here.