Appel Fellows journey the world, uncover themselves

Somewhere between new locations and new folks, Appel Fellows uncover one thing larger than a narrative: a shift in how they see the world and themselves.

The Center for Writing and Public Discourse (CWPD) hosted its annual celebration of Joel A. Appel ’87 P’20 and the Appel household writing students, generally often known as the Appel Fellows, within the Marian Miner Cook Athenaeum on Jan. 26. CMC group members loved shows from three 2025 Appel Fellows, adopted by a Q&A session.

The Appel Family Writing Scholars program, launched in 2015, gives first-year college students with the chance to pursue impartial journey and the mentorship of CMC college to “experience writing in a way that may shape the course of their lives and to encourage them to share their experiences with others through the written word.”

To date, there have been 161 Appel Fellows, every producing significant and substantial writing initiatives together with essays, journals, and brief tales. Many college students choose to create further inventive expressions of their experiences. This yr, Kryster Carmela Labarda ’28 created a 3D mannequin of the three completely different landscapes she noticed within the Philippines, along with an investigative journalism-style essay and a public well being pop-up she organized throughout her time overseas.

Other initiatives included an “experiential ethnography” by Jonas Rickert ’28, who explored the cultural ideas of success and happiness. He mirrored on his three weeks in Germany, the place he immersed himself in a tradition that emphasizes work-life stability, and gained new insights.

During the Jan. 26 program, Chloe Martinez, Associate Director of Programming on the CWPD, mirrored on the non-public progress Appel Fellows expertise whereas engaged on their initiatives. “I’m always stunned by the transformations that these students undergo during the course of this fellowship,” she mentioned.

Applications for the 2026 Appel Fellowships are now open.