Berry College: A Legacy of Learning, Labor, and Leadership
Berry College, a private university nestled in the Mount Berry community near Rome, Georgia, stands as a testament to the enduring power of education rooted in Christian values and practical experience. From its humble beginnings as a school for underprivileged children to its current status as a nationally recognized liberal arts college, Berry has maintained a commitment to providing students with a holistic education that prepares them for lives of purpose and service.
The Founding Vision: Martha Berry and the Berry Schools
The story of Berry College begins with Martha Berry, the daughter of a prosperous local business owner. Disturbed by the lack of educational opportunities available to children in the surrounding rural communities, Miss Berry began offering Sunday school lessons. Recognizing the impact she could have, she dedicated 83 acres of land inherited from her father to establish the Boys Industrial School in 1902.
Martha Berry founded the Berry Schools for academically able but economically disadvantaged children in the rural South, children who often could not afford an education elsewhere.
Born on October 7, 1865, in Alabama, Martha Berry spent most of her life in Rome, Georgia. Witnessing firsthand the struggles of poorer landowners and tenant farmers, she developed a deep desire to help them. Inspired by a chance encounter with three boys who lacked access to education, she began teaching them Bible stories in a small log cabin on her family's property. This humble beginning soon blossomed into a larger effort, with families gathering in the cabin for lessons.
As the group outgrew the cabin, Martha built a small whitewashed school building across the highway from Oak Hill on land given to her by her father. She also used an abandoned church a few miles away at Possum Trot, and two other facilities were located at Mount Alto and Foster's Bend. Martha concluded that, in order to have sufficient impact on the children, she needed to keep them at the schools rather than have them live at home. She had a dormitory built, and on Jan. 13, 1902, she opened the Boys Industrial School with five boarding students on the land near her home. After the school was incorporated the next year with a board of trustees, she deeded the 83-acre tract to the corporation. This school later became known as the Mount Berry School for Boys, and on Thanksgiving Day 1909 she opened the Martha Berry School for Girls approximately a mile from the boys' school. These were high schools also offering lower-level studies in the early years. The Berry schools became models for vocational, agricultural and mechanical schools throughout the world by showing how the needs of people in poor rural areas could be met.
Read also: Berry College's Football Program
Motivated by this success, Miss Berry decided in 1902 to devote the 83 acres she had inherited from her father to found the Boys Industrial School.
From its inception, Berry's program emphasized the regenerative power of work. Berry believed that diligent labor would promote character in her students by encouraging responsibility and a sense of self-worth. In 1914, "work" was implemented as an integral component of the Berry education. Students still contribute their effort and energy to help run their college.
Across the years, Berry has remained true to Miss Berry’s founding values.
From Industrial School to Liberal Arts College: A Transformation
The Boys Industrial School, founded in 1902, marked the beginning of Martha Berry's vision. In 1909, she established the Martha Berry School for Girls, followed by Berry Junior College in 1926. By 1930, the junior college expanded into a four-year institution.
The Berry schools became models for vocational, agricultural and mechanical schools throughout the world by showing how the needs of people in poor rural areas could be met.
Read also: Berry on Chinese Literature
In 1956, led by President John R. Bertrand, the College began a robust development of its liberal arts and professional program offerings. In 1957, Berry was accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools.
Berry College offers Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Music, Bachelor of Science, Master of Business Administration, Master of Education, and Education Specialist degrees from the four schools making up its academic program.
A Commitment to Academic Excellence and Experiential Learning
Berry College is a comprehensive liberal arts and sciences college and a member of the Annapolis Group, an organization of top-tier national liberal arts colleges.
Berry College is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC) to award baccalaureate, masters and education-specialist degrees. Berry College also may offer credentials such as certificates and diplomas at approved degree levels.
The student-faculty ratio at Berry College is 11:1, and the school has 58.9% of its classes with fewer than 20 students, and 99.6% of its classes with fewer than 50 students. The average freshman retention rate, an indicator of student satisfaction, is 83%. A minor degree can be obtained in 36 different courses of study throughout the four schools.
Read also: Berry College Admission Landscape
Berry's Honors Program is an undergraduate program designed to give qualified students a chance to learn in an intellectually challenging environment with their peers and professors. The Honors Program allows the students to take Honors-only classes, Honorized classes, and to study abroad in Honors-only programs. During their last year at Berry, Honors students must complete and defend a senior thesis.
Every Berry student is guaranteed up to eight semesters of paid, hands-on professional development experience-connecting conceptual learning with practical skills development and leadership opportunity.
Berry students work alongside faculty mentors, exploring their interests, gaining intrinsic knowledge around core areas of their academic studies and contributing in a way that better prepares them for their future.
Accepted a position with Georgia-Pacific following his summer internship - 8 months before graduation.
Known for a sense of purpose, work ethic and habits of mind, Berry graduates hold a distinct advantage in their professional lives. Hannah Blanton, recipient of the prestigious Goldwater Scholarship, illustrates this wholeheartedly as she pursues a Ph.D.
The World's Largest Campus: A Unique Learning Environment
Berry’s campus, the world’s largest, includes a vast ecosystem of woodlands, meadows and streams and is home to unique opportunities for research, entrepreneurship, hands-on learning and recreation. The campus consists of more than 27,000 acres of land - including fields, forests, and Lavender Mountain - making it the largest contiguous college campus in the world. Designated portions are open to the public for hiking, cycling, horseback riding, and other outdoor activities. The Georgia Department of Natural Resources oversees about 16,000 acres of the campus, conducts managed hunts, and provides recreational opportunities.
Berry College has more than 80 miles of hiking, biking and horseback riding trails, and two disc golf courses; all are open to the Berry community and to the public. The Victory Lake Campground located in the heart of Berry's campus is available to Berry student use only.
The world’s largest campus - with distinct environments and ecosystems - supports unique work-based learning and research opportunities.
A Vibrant Campus Community
Berry is home to a warm and inclusive community that enthusiastically supports and celebrates the activities and interests of its 2,200+ students.
Berry College has a total of 1,943 undergraduate students for the 2019-2020 academic year. There are 91 graduate students. There is a 66:34 female to male ratio, and 69 percent of the students are in-state residents.
Berry College's student work program, called LifeWorks, guarantees every student a job on campus for those interested in participating. The work program is based upon the original idea the school was formed around. The founder, Martha Berry, would educate local children for free if they would work around campus.
A Legacy on Film
Berry College has been used as a site for the filming of several movies, in addition to music videos by bands such as Casting Crowns. The most notable films are Remember the Titans and Sweet Home Alabama. Disney's Perfect Harmony (1991) was filmed almost entirely on campus at buildings such as Oak Hill, Frost Chapel, the Old Mill, and the Ford Buildings. A short scene from Dutch was filmed on the Berry campus. In addition, scenes for the Fox series, The Following, starring Kevin Bacon, were filmed here.
A Commitment to Christian Values
Berry College's mission statement espouses "values based on Christian principles". The campus has a chaplain, four chapels, and an active religion-in-life program supporting all Christian denominations and religions outside of Christianity.
Athletics at Berry College
The Berry athletic teams are called the Vikings. The institution is a member of the Division III level of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), primarily competing in the Southern Athletic Association (SAA) as a founding member since the 2012-13 academic year. Berry has won three NAIA national championships in women's soccer (1987, 1990 and 1993), one national title in women's basketball (1976), one NAIA national crown in men's golf (1998), and three IHSA national championships in equestrian (2011, 2015, 2016). The Berry College Board of Trustees voted to add football beginning in the fall of 2013, with a track and field athletic program to be added soon after. A new stadium, known as "Valhalla", has been built on Berry's campus. The Cage Center is Berry's 131,000-square-foot athletic facility that houses a performance gymnasium, a natatorium with observation seating, a fitness center, racquetball courts, an indoor track and classrooms.
Berry is a founding member of the Southern Athletic Association, Division III of the NCAA. Berry’s 131,000 square-foot Steven J. Cage Athletic and Recreation Center offers students a state-of-the-art home for thriving intercollegiate and intramural sports programs.
Tuition and Admissions
In 2021, Berry College accepted 77% of all applicants. Berry College's tuition is $38,430 a year, before any financial aid, grants, or scholarships. In 2021, tuition increased 1.9%, from $37,720 in 2020 to the current rate of $38,430. In addition to tuition, students at Berry can expect to pay around $13,620 a year for room and board, which covers the cost of on-campus housing and a meal plan.
Berry was founded on the ideal that learning works best as a shared commitment. It is the College’s enduring mission to partner with students and families to make the Berry education-and its lifelong value-possible through generous financial aid.
Berry College Elementary and Middle School
Berry College Elementary and Middle School is a private school located on Berry College's mountain campus across from Frost Chapel. Established in 1977, the school was initially called the Berry College Academy - which held a variety of students from preschool to high school.
tags: #berry #college #location #and #history
