Appelget
Robbinsville Township zoning board member among Tribute to Women honorees
On March 6, the YWCA Princeton will honor nine local women at its annual Tribute to Women Award Dinner. Robbinsville resident Kristin Appelget is among the honorees.
Appelget is the Director of Community and Regional Affairs at Princeton University, where she manages the relationship between the university and the surrounding communities. She works on issues such as transportation, sustainability, land use, planning and zoning. Her job also involves bringing Princeton University together with the nearby communities and forging a stronger connection between them.
The event, which will take place at the Hyatt Regency Princeton, “recognizes women of excellence who live or work in the greater Princeton area, and who have made significant contributions in their professions and their communities.” Since the inception of the Tribute to Women award program in 1984, the YWCA Princeton has celebrated the accomplishments of more than 300 local women.
The women honored by the Tribute to Women are nominated by their peers and colleagues in an open nominations process. Following that, a selection committee reviews the nominees and chooses the winners based on diverse criteria including professional and academic achievement, leadership, and community service.
“Our 2014 Honorees have been selected because they walk the talk of our mission,” said Director of Development for the YWCA Princeton Nancy Faherty. “By paying tribute to their achievements, we collectively honor our history and embrace our future. We also affirm why we must remain fearless in our efforts to stop discrimination and allow women to prosper.”
For much of her career, Appelget has done work that involves bringing different groups of people together to find common ground and build consensus. She formerly worked as president and chief executive officer of the Princeton Regional Chamber of Commerce.
“It may sound a little bit cliché, but I enjoy working with people, enjoy working in a group dynamic, working together to find solutions to what may seem to be difficult problems, enjoy meeting people, enjoy learning more about individuals who have opinions different from mine,” she said.
She believes that the approach that she takes to her work results in a true spirit of cooperation and often results in better decision-making.
Appelget, 43, is also very passionate about serving her community. A native of Central New Jersey, she was born and raised in West Windsor. After college, she returned home and got involved with local boards and committees, eventually being elected to and serving on the West Windsor Township Council. She considered her foray into politics as “a way to give back to the town that I grew up in.”
Appelget strongly values the idea of giving back.
“I recognize a lot of people who came before me who provided me with the wonderful opportunities I’ve had to be successful to the extent that I am,” she said. “I believe wholeheartedly in the idea of paying it forward.”
Serving others and working to better her community have always been a part of Appelget’s life. She explains that as a child she watched her parents who were very involved in the community as local volunteers.
“I think I learned from a young age from their example that you should volunteer time and talent to organizations in the community,” she said.
One issue that Appelget focuses on is land use and guaranteeing open space. It’s something she fought for while sitting on the West Windsor Township Council and is also part of her current job at Princeton University. She also pursues her concern for the issue by sitting on the Robbinsville Township Zoning Board. Her enthusiasm for open space comes from growing up on a family farm.
“That upbringing made me really learn to value the land,” she says.
She is also passionate about providing resources and programming for women and children. She supports several local organizations involved in that type of work including the YWCA and the Lakeview Childcare Center Foundations. Her support takes on several forms such as sitting on boards, helping with programming, and philanthropy. She says that she feels so strongly about these organizations because “I believe when you have strong and healthy families children flourish.” She credits her awareness of these issues and the importance of supporting women and families to programs sponsored by the Princeton Area Community Foundation, particularly their Fund for Girls and Women.
For Appelget, supporting programming for children is another way of paying it forward. She was a very active athlete as a child through a number of local sports programs. Her involvement in sports taught her a number of very important lessons. She’s worked very hard as an adult to advocate for active sports programming, something she believes that adults need to provide for children in their communities.
“Sports shaped who I am,” she says. “They gave me my first opportunity to be a leader, taught me to be a good teammate.”
Appelget takes the role of the YWCA’s mission of empowering women and eliminating racism very seriously. She uses it as a guiding principle in her personal life. She has four nieces under the age of four and a nephew who is seven and she says, “I feel like it’s my responsibility in being a good aunt to those five kids to be a good example to give them good examples how to be a tolerant person, and in the case of my nieces how to be strong, capable women.”
Although the YWCA Princeton’s Tribute to Women is a local event, it has counterparts across the country and all over the world. The YWCA has 25 million members worldwide and many chapters have similar events.
“This is a signature event promoting the mission of eliminating racism and empowering women as part of a global movement,” Nancy Faherty said.
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