Gallery • 7 Photos

Mykenzi Doran

Having fun Juniors Hova and Basile look through some picture they took. The group that went to APPLES took many different pictures.

On April 2, students were scheduled to attend the APPLES (Appalachian Language Educators Society) festival held at IUP (Indiana University of Pennsylvania).

Some students said that they were up and ready in the morning to be able to get to the school and catch the bus that would be taking them to the university.

“Well, I woke up actually earlier than I normally do surprisingly and then I got dressed, got ready, got all my stuff and then I went to go pick up Kristel,” junior Katie Hovan said. “I was running a little late after waking up early for some reason. Then we went, and it took us forever to get to the school. We were freaking out by the time we got there that we would’ve missed the bus or something, but we were fine.”

However, before anything could happen, teachers gathered the students that had been there to travel to participate in the festival and they announced that the buses wouldn’t be arriving.

“I don’t know if they could’ve done anything at that point, but I was just trying to contact somebody because we had 41 students and three teachers standing outside at 6:45 a.m. with no bus,” French teacher Veronica Skomra said.

“We were waiting, and I thought we were going to be late because the people said we were going to leave at 7 a.m. with or without you, so we went there and we got our artwork and after 30 minutes the bus didn’t get there which I was very disappointed about,” junior Kristel Basile said.

Some of the students still wanted to attend the festival, so they made the decision to drive up themselves.

“Well, I really wanted to go to this,” Hovan said. “I was excited for APPLES for a couple weeks, so when I found out the buses weren’t coming, I kind of just threw it out as a suggestion to be like ‘hey what if we just went up ourselves’ sorta thing. I didn’t think it was actually going to happen, it was just a random suggestion.”

When students Hovan, Basile and sophomore Ava Rokosky arrived at the IUP, Skomra was just about to arrive as well.

“We just did what we normally do, we set up all of the art stuff in the art building and then we went to check in… It was fine once we were there though, it’s a pretty chill event. You just do what you’re doing and then walk around a bit to check out campus,” Skomra said.

Throughout the day, the students stayed together.

“We went with Ava for her poetry reciting, and we were waiting for her there and after that we just wanted to explore, so we went back to the art building and then we ended up chilling out for a long time in this really cool art hallway. Then we went to my piano playing thing,” Hovan said.

Some of the students participated in different activities.

“For Ava’s recital poem we weren’t allowed to watch, but we sat there and waited. I know my friends came and watched me play piano because they wanted to, and I had wanted them to see me play,” Hovan said.

During lunch, the students sat together and ate with Skomra.

“We went to the campus cafeteria, and we had soup noodles. The food was great, but they were really stingy about it,” Basile said. “My French teacher was talking about how disappointed she was and we also talked about how the day went and how it was great to have five people because if it were more than five people, it would have been more hectic and confusing.”

After eating, the group continued to talk and explore the campus.

“We sat there for like an hour and a half and just talked about random stuff,” Hovan said. “We went to the art museum sort of exhibit on campus, so we went there, just having fun and taking pictures like aesthetic art queens. We went to the library and I got a free book. Then we walked down to this cafe and got coffee and hot chocolate. It was fun. I like all the pictures we took.”

Everyone attended the closing ceremony at the end of the festival.

“We went to the closing ceremony which honestly took longer than I thought it was going to be,” Hovan said. “We played Kahoot and there was a mini talent show for the people who were actually performing if they wanted to perform their art.”

On the ride home, Hovan and Basile made a discovery that shocked them.

“We went to find some gas, and we went to this little Sheetz and there was no gas and there was just liquor. Just liquor. No gas at Sheetz. That was the most bizarre thing I’ve ever seen,” Basile said.

The students who were able to travel to the festival expressed a collective feeling of happiness that they were able to come and participate.

“It was definitely worth it.” Hovan said. “I really loved going. I know it would’ve been different with so many people their, so it was nice to have a small group and I knew everyone who went. It was just fun to have friends.”

“It was fun. It was fun hanging out with my friends and getting to know people that I didn’t know, mutual friends. It was awesome. It was hilarious,” Basile said.

Hovan expressed wishing that others could have also attended.

“It would have been nice to see other people perform,” Hovan said. “I would’ve liked to see Sam [Abbott] and I know there are other people who wanted to put artwork up who didn’t get the chance to. It would’ve been nice to see other Altoona people place higher or at least in more academic stuff rather than the three or four people who placed.”