30 Years of the Appalachian Experience

What began as a service trip three decades ago has blossomed into one of the University’s largest service and immersion initiatives.

Over the past 30 years, thousands of Saint Joseph’s students have piled into vans headed to towns across the Appalachian region where they engage in an alternative spring break service and immersion program known as the Appalachian Experience, or APEX.

APEX began at the University circa 1993 (then known as Project Appalachia) when a dozen students traveled to Phelps, Kentucky, to volunteer at a Habitat for Humanity site. Since its inception, the program has grown into one the University’s largest service initiatives, having connected more than 4,000 students with residents across the region to build houses, work in community centers and engage in other service activities. At its heart is an emphasis on Ignatian values that go beyond traditional service and encourage thoughtful reflection, living with and for others, and building meaningful relationships.

“What has sustained APEX are the relationships formed with individuals and communities in Appalachia and among the SJU student and alumni participants,” says Tricia Riordan, APEX campus minister. “The result has been 30 years of communities in Appalachia asking for SJU students to return year after year, and of SJU students eager to return.”

Leading up to the immersion trips, student leaders engage in spiritual formation that includes learning about the history and role of industry in the Appalachian region and the resulting social and environmental issues: unemployment, poor education and infrastructure, air pollution, and reduced water quality, to name only a few.

“Through direct experiences within the site communities, students are given the opportunity to acknowledge, listen and learn,” says Riordan. “Students can bring these learnings with them into the future as they make ethical decisions.”

Tom Sheibley, director of Campus Ministry, has been involved with APEX since 2005 and has seen the positive effect that it has had on students.

“People, especially people of college age, want to do something meaningful and want to connect with others,” Sheibley says. “Through APEX, participants have the opportunity to see life through the eyes of those from another region whose background and experience may be very different from their own, and this can have a profound impact on their understanding of the world.”

Brynna Robinson ’18 participated in APEX all four years of her undergraduate studies at SJU and continues to serve as an adult facilitator.

“The people are what keep me going back, and by people I mean the St. Joe’s community as well as all the communities that I’ve met in Appalachia,” says Robinson, who has seen firsthand what she was taught at a Jesuit university about the importance of working with and for others. “I want to continue to see that aspect of learning not just be this week-long trip, but what we can do afterward.”

Though APEX has flourished over the last several decades, there have also been setbacks — including disruptions from the COVID-19 pandemic. This pause in the program prompted organizers to consider new ways to bolster its community.

“Engaging with the many APEX alumni was a natural way to both expand and support the program,” says Riordan. “Alumni could help re-energize student participation and support the program in the midst of rising costs due to inflation.”

APEX staff and student leaders have continued to engage the program’s alumni; this spring, they formed the APEX Alumni Affinity Group to bring together those interested in supporting the program through its next 30 years. Riordan also wants to expand APEX to involve new students and initiatives.

“With the addition of Saint Joseph’s new healthcare programs, I see the opportunity to add sites that engage in service and learning within rural community health and wellness agencies,” says Riordan. 

Today, APEX continues to be a transformational experience for many who participate — both SJU students and those in the Appalachian region. Roger Bush has lived in Alleghany Highlands, Virginia, for nearly four decades.

“I am so thankful to be able to know the people from Saint Joseph’s,” Bush said in the APEX Documentary directed and produced by alumni Jeffrey Wallin ’10 and Matt Fullmer ’17 (MBA) in 2019. “The contribution they’ve made to the community is just unspeakably beautiful and what they mean to me is deeply, deeply appreciated.”

 Celebrating a Decade of Young Women in STEM

Saint Joseph's award-winning Physics Wonder Girls Camp marked in 10th year, ensuring young women find their place in STEM. 

Saint Joseph’s Physics Wonder Girls Camp celebrated its 10-year milestone with the largest and most diverse group of girls yet. The camp, founded by Physics Professor Roberto Ramos, PhD, pairs middle school girls with undergraduate STEM students to engage in hands-on physics experiments; tours of research labs and industrial plants; and physics-based games, poster sessions and career talks.

Since 2013, the camp has paired a total of 240 middle school girls with 60 SJU students. This year, the program also received its fourth grant from Constellation, the nation’s largest producer of carbon-free energy, to expand opportunities for young women while also focusing on renewable energy and creating a more sustainable world.

Ramos, Physics Wonder Girls program director, launched the camp after recognizing his daughter Kristiana’s interest in the sciences at an early age. He was determined to create a program for young girls like Kristiana who expressed a passion for the sciences. This idea turned into a larger vision to inspire girls to pursue careers in STEM fields.

Originally funded through a grant from the National Science Foundation, the program started in Indiana in 2013 and came to Philadelphia in 2016 when Ramos joined University of the Sciences. 

Over the past 10 years, the campers have had opportunities to hear from more than a dozen industry-experienced speakers, including Saint Joseph’s alumni who are physicists, scientists and engineers across the private sector, national laboratories and academia.

“Within physics, only five women have received the Nobel Prize,” Ramos says. “Camps such as the Physics Wonder Girls promise to raise and sustain appreciation for physics as a discipline and career among women in order to help correct this imbalance in society.”

Angels on a Leash 

Saint Joseph’s education majors partnered with Angels on a Leash to help elementary school students gain confidence reading aloud by working with therapy dogs.

Reading aloud in class can be stressful for young students, especially for those who are learning to be better readers. To help ease their anxieties, students in Saint Joseph’s chapter of Alpha Upsilon Alpha (AUA), the International Literacy Association’s honor society, hosted a community event at the Bucks County Free Library where they invited elementary-aged children to read books to therapy dogs.

The event was inspired by a Saint Joseph’s student’s field experience and was hosted in partnership with Angels on a Leash, a nonprofit that provides volunteer therapy-dog handler teams.

“At the private school where I worked, the students had learning- based disabilities such as dyslexia, dyscalculia or dysgraphia. Some of my students were a grade level or more behind in their reading fluency and I could see how this would impact their confidence, especially to read in class,” says Erica Braunlinger ’22, ’23 (MEd), president of the AUA Alpha Zeta chapter. “The school had a support dog and I would have my students read to him; it was evident that they were more confident with reading, and their accuracy and expression increased tremendously.”

Braunlinger and the other members of the Alpha Zeta chapter were grateful for the opportunity to give even more children a space to find their confidence when reading aloud.

“We were all so proud of what we were able to accomplish. Children and their families were able to take home free books that our chapter provided to be able to practice fluency at home. The children who read to the dogs were so at ease and excited to read to a furry canine friend,” says Braunlinger. The books that remained after the event were donated to BookSmiles, an agency that helps supply books to Title I schools.