BEREA COLLEGE, BEREA, KENTUCKY

Their student craft shops

are a wonderful place to find

reasonably-priced Christmas gifts

(Text from SRN below)

See website: BEREACOLLEGECRAFTS.COM

OR FOR CATALOG, 1-800-347-3892

town shops, Boone far right

chapel

Old photo, Berea College Band

WHAT BEREA COLLEGE IS:

Berea College is distinctive among institutions of higher learning. Founded in 1855 as the first interracial and coeducational college in the South, Berea charges no tuition and admits only academically promising students, primarily from Appalachia, who have limited economic resources. Berea's cost of educating students far exceeds $23,000 a year. Berea offers rigorous educational academic programs leading to Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science degrees in 28 fields. All students work at least 10 hours per week in campus and service jobs in more than 130 departments. The College has an inclusive Christian character, expressed in its motto "God has made of one blood all peoples of the Earth." Berea's primary service region is the Southern Appalachian region, but students come from all states in the U.S. and in a typical year, from more than 60 other countries representing a rich diversity of colors, cultures, and faiths. About one in three students represents an ethnic minority. Berea continues to build upon a distinctive history of 150 years of learning, labor and service, and find new ways to apply our mission (the Great Commitments) to contemporary times by promoting kinship among all people, serving communities in Appalachia and beyond and living sustainably to conserve limited natural resources.

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Six or seven years ago WE TOOK OUR CHILDREN Erin and Lee to Berea to see if they would be interested in attending. At that time Berea admitted a small number of new students from families whose income exceeded the low & aid-targeted monetary standard. We'd visited Berea before but never with them. As both Lee and Erin were well-studied musicians from Waukesha South High School, we/I wanted them to hear a rehearsal of the Berea college orchestra. A practice was going on one of the nights we were there.

We stayed at our favorite, the Boone Hotel, run and operated by Berea students. (We had some of their famous spoon bread and other delicacies. Chicken in a Bird's Nest, etc.)

We found the rehearsal hall in the catacomb of an old music building, one of the original campus buildings, after much searching.

The entourage followed me grumblingly as we neared the hall, as determined by the increasing sound in the dimly-lit basement hallway. We stepped through a likely door, all 4 of us, and found ourselves right in the middle of the stage - with the musicians and director, who all smiled when they saw how embarrassed Lee and Erin were (I think). We were welcomed graciously. That was one of those family moments never to be forgotten.

Berea didn't sufficiently grab the young Dixes, all told. One reason was that the Appalachian small college's music program was not equal to or exceeding the South HS music experience.

[That quality was not matched either for Lee's eventual college experience at the University of Wis - Madison. Erin found musical fulfillment at Lawrence University in Appleton, where she graduated last June, and now is at UW-Mad as a library science grad student. Lee is a Jr. undergraduate at Madison studying Advanced Portuguese and literature.]

Over the many years of its existence, Berea has graduated celebrated students who have gone on to keep the college very well-endowed financially. It is a lovely campus in the foothills of the mountains. The scenery there is beautiful. A fine place to make as a destination for vacation or at least for a stop on a broader vacation trip. In one of the walk-up shops pictured in the group of photos here is where I first heard Eva Cassidy on CD, at an art gallery, as already said.

I first heard of Berea in the 1950's when friends brought back some beautifully blue-glazed pottery from the college.