Meet Anna
Anna Applegate is an insightful, creative 17-year-old. She has evolved alongside PAGE, enjoying the interdisciplinary STEAM labs of the last three years most of all. “I've been with PAGE for a very long time. My first summer was in 2019. I was going into sixth grade, and pretty much, I've been every summer since.”
Anna’s love of science was allowed to flourish over the years during PAGE Labs like the Appalachian Astronomy lab and the Aquatic Ecology Lab. Because Anna’s passion for science was nurtured through summer STEAM Labs, Anna was inspired to apply for a PAGE High School Fellowship which includes a capstone project in Industrial Design.
When asked what kept Anna coming back to PAGE
This summer she got to live her mantra of “Live genuinely!” as a high school fellow.
The High School Fellowship is a program that combines an in-depth and self reflective study of documentary arts with professional skill building and post-graduation planning. In the morning, through the guidance of Creative Communications Specialist and Documentary Arts Facilitator Ryn McCall,
summer after summer Anna shared,
“There is a structure to PAGE without it seeming like a funnel. In school, there is really only one pathway you’re meant to take, and it’s impersonal and there isn’t a lot of information around the why or even the how. Everyone is going to different places, and no one really knows what’s happening so it feels very scattered. It’s not that the school admin doesn’t want to help, it just feels like they’re not really equipped to. So being at PAGE, especially as a senior, I feel grateful for the opportunity to sit down and get my resume in order, set goals… those kinds of things. Then you couple that with our mornings where we’re answering questions like, ‘Who have you been? Who are you now? What do you want to be?’ And I feel like this concentrated approach to future planning works together very well. You actually made me process my emotions. It’s a good and healthy way to think about things intelligently.”
the fellows were encouraged to investigate their past, present, and future selves through immersive journaling prompts and group discussions. These introspective spaces informed the fellows' photographic work as they created community and self portraiture that illuminated their placement in the world and their hopes for the future.
In the afternoons, the fellows worked to build the launch pad for their post-high school futures under the leadership of Dr. Cathryn Hughes Barnett, our Future Pathways facilitator. Students worked to create vision boards, write resumes, build digital portfolios, develop professional skills like time management and professional communication, and meet with their mentors in preparation for their final capstones. These interwoven opportunities throughout the weekday provided Anna the context to dream and plan, and most of all, to “live genuinely.” In Anna’s view, this pursuit of living genuinely culminated this summer where she enjoyed the opportunity to practice her leadership skills, flex her creative muscles, and sink into the tight-knit cohort of High School Fellows. “PAGE is always collaborative, and I felt like I was a part of the subject matter.”
Even as a prolific, multi-modal artist, Anna admits she’d never explored photography much prior to the High School Fellowship Documentary Arts project. Recounting her experience with this new medium, Anna shares,
“A photograph feels very subjective. It feels like it’s as close as you can get to actually portraying what it is to be human… especially with self portraiture,
I am presenting both myself and my art simultaneously. It feels very vulnerable. I think photography made me ask what my comfort zones are,
and why they’re my comfort zones.”
Building leadership skills is a key element of the High School Fellowship, and Anna thrived as she stepped into her role as a mentor this past summer. She led activity sessions for the middle school girls with compassion and creativity, encouraging them to be their best selves even as she modeled her commitment to thoughtful, thorough, and self reflective works.
It’s clear when you’re chatting with Anna that she keeps herself busy, and self admittedly so. From participating as a High School Fellow in our three-week June session and returning in the capacity of a student for our two-week July session and college immersion trip, to sailing camp, to volunteering, and to engaging in her creative processes, Anna is an energetic and engaged young woman. She prefers to occupy herself in the pursuit of achievement and quality of experience, aiming toward activities that fill her time in a way that lends to a larger contribution. She shares,
“If I care about something, I put my time into it.”
Anna navigates her world through a lens of consistent curiosity. She’s often the first with a follow -up question or a proposed hypothesis. Her desire to explore and understand informs her pursuit of knowledge and skill. Anna shares,
“I have this deep set feeling of ‘why am I so curious?’
I am deeply curious.”
Creativity and the pursuits that emerge from this state of being are central to the way Anna thinks and moves through the world. In her own words, she self-describes, “I’m an artist - that’s kind of an umbrella term. I paint sometimes, I like to sew when I can. I feel like any kind of creative pursuit, I am probably going to be interested in it. And I feel like anything where I can take an idea and make it my own, that’s my jam.”
Anna’s driven demeanor, strong critical thinking skills, and passion for creativity combine in her plans and desires for her post-high school education trajectory. Her aim is pointed toward Architecture. The combination of engineering and design intrigues Anna and she is exploring the field through her mentorship with UNCA SkillSet Director, Sara Sanders, which is part of her PAGE high school fellowship program. Anna’s capstone project which she is completing in partnership with her mentor is designing, modeling, and building a chicken coop for UNCA to use as a template for people to make their own coops with excess lumber from Helene. This capstone includes
learning the modeling and design software Fusion 360 as well as wood joinery. As Anna works to create a blueprint for the coop, she finds that “the process has been challenging in a way that is expanding and strengthening my design skills and practical knowledge.”
As a 6-year student of PAGE, we’ve seen Anna grow in a multitude of ways that are proof-positive that we’ve witnessed the birth of a young leader. Her voracious appetite spurred on by her unrelenting curiosity engages and challenges both her peers and the project facilitators, and invites anyone present into a collaborative contemplation.
Anna’s commitment to her community, both in PAGE and beyond, glows as a testament to her enormous heart and her intellectual acuity. We’re proud of the ways she has tuned into PAGE’s support system while also being self directed and driven toward her goals. We are honored to continue to watch Anna grow into a resolute, thoughtful, empowered young woman as she navigates into the next chapter of her post-high school life.
The High School Fellow Capstone Projects will be on display to the larger community in the Spring of 2026.