What is it Like to Attend APEX for the First Time vs the Second Time?

Quick Summary: Wondering what APEX is like? First-time attendees often feel welcomed and make fast connections. Second-timers come back for deeper relationships, reunions, and recognition. Here’s how it felt both times from a real student’s perspective.

APEX is a young adult’s conference held in Lake City, MI. Every year, APEX kicks off the beginning of the Ascend year for new and current students and serves as a reunion for graduating students and alumni. 

Attending APEX for the first time is an amazing experience. By the end, you will walk away with awesome memories, great insights, and newfound connections with a community you will be able to tap into for the rest of the year. I absolutely loved my first APEX and was curious to see if the experience would be different as a returning student. 

In this article, I want to share with you what I learned after experiencing APEX twice in the hopes that it will be helpful to anyone considering attending this event for the first time. 

What Surprised Me Most About My First APEX?

Attending APEX for the first time was a leap of faith for me, as I went into it not knowing exactly what to expect. I was definitely excited to attend the event, but I was also very nervous. As a semi-introvert, big groups of unfamiliar people are a bit intimidating! 

However, right from the get-go I was stunned at just how friendly and welcoming everyone was. People came right up to me, introduced themselves, and struck up conversation. 

From that point on, every day just got better.

As part of my first APEX experience, I got to meet with my Ascend Team in person for the first time. Prior to the event, I had one call with my team so there were at least a few familiar faces amidst the crowd when I first arrived. 

Having a smaller group to start connecting with in the midst of meeting so many new people helped me a ton during my first APEX! As a team, we got to take on various challenges and participate in group discussions after sessions, which helped everyone get to know each other better and to continue building on the foundation of our initial connection through shared experiences.Over the course of those five days, I met a lot of new people, experienced a lot of new things, and heard from a group of incredible speakers. 

As with most experiences, you get out of APEX what you put into it! And, speaking from my own experience, if you’re willing to put in the effort to plug in, connect, and engage, your first APEX will not only be a fantastic introduction to Ascend and the Unbound community as a whole, but also a meaningful beginning to this next season of life.

How My Second APEX Was Deeper, Not Just Different

APEX for a returning student was just as amazing an experience, but there were definitely differences. Every year APEX is run by a team of students called the Unbound National Student Cabinet. This team changes every year so the themes, activities, and speakers change too. But that’s not the only difference I noticed when I attended APEX a second time.

First of all, I knew a lot more people. Having spent a year getting to know fellow students at the rest of the Ascend events and over Slack messages, my second APEX was an awesome reunion with all the people I had grown close to throughout the past year. Honestly, it was a lot more people than I thought it would be! This was one of my favorite parts of my second APEX. It really did feel like a family reunion.

While there were still plenty of new faces, overall the event was a lot less overwhelming the second time. After being involved in the Unbound community for a year, I had a much better idea of what to expect. 

This time around, instead of just meeting everyone for the first time, I got to spend more time connecting with people on a deeper level, improving my existing relationships while also establishing new ones. I daresay I had more fun at my second APEX than I had at your first for just this reason alone.

Because I had already completed a year in Ascend when I came into APEX for the second time, I also had the opportunity to be recognized in front of the Unbound community as an Ascend Foundations Student Graduate. 

This was a really special moment, and an amazing time for reflection on all I had accomplished the previous year. This was another one of my favorite moments of my second APEX, getting to stand in front of the community with my fellow students who worked hard alongside me all year, celebrating each other and what we were able to achieve. It’s an incredible experience!

In my opinion, APEX, whether it’s your first or second time, is worth every minute. This is the most open and welcoming community I have ever had the pleasure of being a part of, and I know that I will continue to return even after I graduate from Ascend after completing the Launch year. It can be scary at first, like all new things, and taking that leap of faith is hard. But speaking from my own experience, it was one of the best decisions I ever made.