edited by Kaylie Morales
Volume 8, Issue 26
April 9, 2025
Dear Honors students,
I’m excited to congratulate Nicole Tran, our newly elected Student Government Association (SGA) president! Nicole follows in the footsteps of fellow Honors College students Kathryn Long and JP Neri, continuing a strong tradition of leadership, engagement, and collaboration.
At App State, leadership goes beyond titles like SGA president. It’s about making an impact on campus and in your communities. The Office of Community Engaged Leadership offers opportunities to grow as a leader while connecting with local, regional, national, and international communities.
Within the Honors College, you can get involved through AHA!, Vanguard, or as a Peer Mentor. With a record number of first-year students expected this next year, we need more mentors [volunteer here]. I encourage each of you to find your place in our community.
Best,
Vicky
Upcoming Opportunities:
Dr. Klima is happy to help you apply; send her an email at klimavw@appstate.edu
Appalachian Honors Association Movie Night
Appalachian Honors Association will host a movie night on Thursday, April 10 at 7 p.m. in the Greenbriar Theater. Doors open at 7 p.m. with the movie “Lady Bird” starting at 7:30 p.m. Please RSVP by midnight on Wednesday, April 9. Click here to RSVP.
Fulbright Writing Workshop
The Office of Nationally Competitive Scholarships will host a writing workshop to help students prepare their applications for the Fulbright scholarship on Wednesday, April 16 at 4:30 p.m. to 6 p.m. in the Plemmons Student Union room 413 and on Zoom. During this workshop, students will learn tips and tricks to build their essays and writing skills to create a strong Fulbright application. Click here to register for the Zoom link.
Showcasing Honors Experience
The Honors College and the Career Development Center will host a workshop “Showcasing Honors Experience” on Wednesday, April 16 from 4:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. in the Summit Hall Fireside Lounge. This workshop will help Honors students learn how to effectively showcase the skills they are building through Honors coursework, international education, and the thesis for job and graduate school applications and interviews. The deadline to RSVP for this workshop is April 13. To RSVP, click here. For questions, contact Dr. Klima.
App Builds a Home Letter Writing Campaign
Join App Builds A Home for their student Letter Writing Campaign. ABAH is the University’s partnership with Watauga County Habitat for Humanity to build safe and affordable homes for local families. The letter writing campaign is a way to help raise funds to build a home for the Lee family. Emails can be sent to friends, family members, and neighbors asking them to support ABAH. For questions, contact App Builds a Home.
Campus Tour Guides
The Office of Undergraduate Admissions is currently hiring students to work as student tour guides for the summer and the 2025-2026 school year. Student Tour Guides promote App State and deliver engaging campus tours that help recruit first-year and transfer students. Deadline to apply is Sunday, April 20 at 11 p.m. Click here to apply.
Upcoming Thesis Defenses:
Dr. Klima urges, “Support your fellow Honors College students and faculty by attending Honors thesis defenses! You'll marvel, learn, and grow. With each defense you attend, you'll make your own easier.”
Kistler Hunt
April 11, 12 p.m. – 1 p.m.
Leon Levine Hall, Room 218
Presenting “An Analysis of Workplace Wellness Interventions for Healthcare Workers and Correlations with Effectiveness”
Taylor Smith
April 11, 3 p.m. – 4 p.m.
Reich College of Education, Room 227
Presenting “Poverty to Prison: The effects in the Classroom”
Rebeca Coronel
April 11, 6 p.m. – 7 p.m.
Broyhill, Room 214
Presenting “How Music Therapy Can Support Spirituality when Death is Imminent”
Cris Bryant
April 12, 12 p.m. – 1 p.m.
Schaffel Recital Hall, Broyhill Music Center and live streamed on the Hayes School of Music website
Presenting “Listening to My Younger Self: An Autoethnographic Journey Through Queer Identity in Music Therapy”
Jackson Mair
April 14, 11 a.m. – 1 p.m.
Walker Hall 1st floor Conference Room
Presenting “Letters from a Modern Stoic”
Lauren Perrone
April 16, 10 a.m. – 11 a.m.
Appalachian Hall, Room 162
Presenting “’Bitch Better Pay for It’: Father’s Claims of Alienation in Family Court”
Abigail Bamber
April 16, 1 p.m. – 2 p.m.
Appalachian Hall, Room 85
Presenting “Impact of Attachment Styles and Self-Esteem Contingencies on Romantic Relationship-Centered Obsessive-Compulsive Tendencies”
Kayla Ekstrom
April 16, 3:30 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.
Plemmons Student Union, Room 122
Presenting “Cognitive Function and the Possible Contribution to Sleep Patterns in College Aged Students”
Stay in the Know:
Appalachian Opera Theater Performance
The Appalachian Opera Theatre of the Hayes School of Music will perform Suor Angelica and Gianni Schicchi by Giacomo Puccini on April 10, 11 and 12 at 7:30 p.m. and April 13 at 2 p.m. at the Appalachian Theatre of the High Country. These operas showcase two contrasting sides of Puccini’s operatic genius. Click here to purchase tickets.
Cooking With Purpose
The College of Arts and Sciences and the Office of Sustainability invite students to join their final session of “Cooking with Purpose,” on Tuesday, April 15 at 5:30 p.m. on Zoom. The goal of the program is to educate students on how to prepare healthy food using sustainable ingredients and techniques. To register for this event, click here.
“Our Movement Starts Here” Earth Month Film Night
The Office of Sustainability & Energy Management, Department of Sustainable Development, and the Center for Appalachian Studies is showing the film “Our Movement Starts Here,” followed by a panel discussion, on Tuesday, April 15 at 6 p.m. at the Appalachian Theater of the High Country. The film centers around the story of a rural community in the south that inspired the international environmental justice movement and articulated the concept of environmental racism. Click here to RSVP.
Financial Wellbeing Seminars
The Family Economic Policy Lab will host a financial wellbeing seminar for students throughout the day on Wednesday, April 16 in the Plemmons Student Union room 226. This seminar intends to help students impacted by Hurricane Helene with financial coaching, tax assistance, and planning tools. Click here for more information.
28 Annual Celebration of Student Research and Creative Endeavors Meeting
The Office of Student Research invites all undergraduate and graduate students to attend their 28 Annual Celebration of Student Research and Creative Endeavors on Wednesday, April 16 on the fourth floor of the Plemmons Student Union. This event will feature research and posters from students showcasing their work. Click here for more information.
In the Honors Spotlight
Third consecutive Honors College student to serve as App State’s student body president
Photo features Nicole Tran. Photo submitted.
Honors student Nicole Tran has been elected as App State’s Student Government Association (SGA) president for the 2025-2026 school year. This will be the third year in a row that an Honors College student has served as App State’s student body president. JP Neri, a history major graduating this May, served as student body president 2023-2024. Kathryn Long, a communication sciences and disorders major also graduating this May, served as student body president 2024-2025.
Tran is a political science major with a concentration in international & comparative politics and a minor in leadership studies. She entered App State and the Honors College in the fall semester of 2023 and plans to graduate in May of 2026. Before becoming student body president, Tran was involved in the SGA serving as director of the diversity, equity and inclusion committee. Tran is also an Appalachian Student Ambassador, a student orientation undergraduate leader (SOUL) and previously served as an Honors College Vanguard member. Tran is pursuing departmental honors in the Department of Government and Justice Studies in addition to University Honors. She completed an Honors faculty led trip to Nepal and an internship through the University of South Florida to Vietnam with a Freeman Asia Scholarship through the Office of International Programs, both over the summer of 2024.
Click here to read, “Tran and Castellow elected student body president, vice president” by Lauren Lyerly in The Appalachian.