Meet Our Students

After having a demanding job as a female welder working on U.S. submarines, Holly Ann ’23 and her grandmother decided to look for a way to afford a four-year degree. Together, they found Berea College, and now Holly Ann can pursue the education her grandmother was not allowed to have.

Meet Destiney ’23, a Computer and Information Science major who will enter her final year at Berea. Destiney grew up in Birmingham, Alabama, where the historic effects of segregation gave her the impression that her future was already determined.

Berea College senior Micah ’22 was raised by his elderly great-aunt on their low, fixed income in Appalachian Kentucky. This spring he will earn the first college degree in his family and then go on to graduate school to become a physical therapist. Because of donor generosity, Micah will get to spend his time in graduate school building skills to heal others instead of worrying about enormous student debt.

Berea College’s commitment to educating Appalachian students is as important today as it was in our founding year of 1855, especially for students who have experienced poverty firsthand. Nursing student, Elizabeth ’21 has a similar story: “Without donors, it’d just be me and my dream and major student debt. Because of your generous heart, I can help others heal.”

Despite the loss of her father and grandfather and the financial challenges of living in a single-parent family, Sharon ’22 never lost hope of her dream of attending college.

Now as a student at Berea, Sharon is fulfilling her plans to go to medical school thanks to the generous gifts from folks like you.

To people from the mountains, Appalachia is like no other place on earth, and they can often feel that their identity will not be welcome outside of the place they call home. Charity ’24, of Fogertown, Kentucky, frequently engages with this notion in her work and music at Berea College, where every aspect of her Appalachian background is not just welcomed—it’s celebrated.