Student Activities
Berea College encourages its students to become active in the community and to learn by doing. Student activities are vital companions to classroom learning and such activities enrich one’s collegiate experience.
The College sponsors clubs and organizations through which students learn such valuable skills as how to lead, how to manage time and budgets, and how to work collaboratively.
Students take responsibility for organizing and running most events. The student-run Campus Activities Board (CAB) plans and sponsors comedy shows, dances, bands, movies, art exhibits, festivals, game shows, talent shows, and concerts. Events are open to all students and supported by an Activities Fee. Residence halls and student clubs and organizations also sponsor numerous special interest and cultural activities.
Campus activities are extensive. The Theatre Laboratory produces three or four plays per year, and Alpha Psi Omega, the national theatre honorary society, occasionally stages student-directed plays. Musical groups include the Black Music Ensemble, College Band, College Orchestra, Concert Choir, and ensemble groups. The Berea College Country Dancers and the Modern Dance Group perform regularly on campus and often go on performance tours and competitions. Four student publications—The Pinnacle, a campus newspaper; Onyx, a black literary magazine; Carillon, a magazine for student writings that is published by the Learning Center; and The Chimes, a yearbook—offer students the opportunity to express creativity through writing, photography, and production.
The Convocation Program contributes to the dynamic atmosphere on campus through sponsorship of concerts, plays, dance performances, films, and lectures by noted artists and scholars. Similarly, the Campus Christian Council, comprised of campus and community religious groups, works to promote various expressions of faith and sponsors opportunities for Christian fellowship and spiritual growth.
Berea’s abiding devotion to multicultural and international concerns, and to community service and civic involvement, finds expression in the activities of the African Student Association, the Black Music Ensemble, the Black Student Union, Bonner Scholars, the Center for Excellence in Learning through Service, Habitat for Humanity, People Who Care, Students for Appalachia, and many other student groups. The Black Cultural Center, the Center for International Education, and the Cosmopolitan Club sponsor activities for all students interested in sharing their own and learning about other cultures.
The College celebrates its Appalachian heritage and the importance of student work by canceling classes and sponsoring traditional events that bring the community together for Mountain Day in the fall and Labor Day in the spring. The mountains, woods, and streams in and near Berea make outdoor recreational activities like fishing, camping, hiking, and mountain biking readily available. Within the College-owned forest lie numerous picnic sites and hiking trails.
All Berea students are members of the Student Government Association (SGA), which provides official representation of students in College governance bodies and in other College decision-making venues. The SGA oversees campus elections and provides some student services. It works hand-in-hand with clubs, organizations, and residence halls whose representatives serve on various committees that help govern the entire community.