Student Activities
Berea College encourages its students to become engaged in the community. Student activities are vital companions to classroom learning and such activities enrich one’s collegiate experience. The College strives to offer a vast array of organizational, programming, and civic opportunities for students.
Berea students take responsibility for organizing and running most events, and thus, opportunities for your involvement on campus are unlimited. There are nearly 100 student organizations, including campus governance, intramural and club sports, music and dance ensembles, social justice and advocacy groups, service-oriented organizations, and honorary and academic organizations. Berea’s abiding commitment to multicultural and international concerns finds expression in the activities of the Black Cultural Center, the Cosmopolitan Club, and the Latinx Student Union. The Berea College Country Dancers performs regularly on campus and often goes on performance tours and competitions.
Key campus traditions are hallmarks of the Berea experience. The College celebrates its Appalachian heritage and the importance of student work by canceling classes and bringing the community together for Mountain Day in the fall and Labor Day in the spring. Long-standing student-run dances like Hallowpalooza, Homecoming, and Jazzy Nights contribute to a vibrate campus community.
The student-run Campus Activities Board (CAB) plans and sponsors comedy shows, bands, movies, art exhibits, festivals, game shows, talent shows, and concerts. Events are open to all students and supported by an Activities Fee. 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. Residence halls and student clubs and organizations also sponsor numerous special interest and cultural activities, and Berea offers frequent opportunities for engagement in the Outdoor Recreation program. The mountains, woods, and streams in and near Berea make outdoor recreational activities like fishing, camping, hiking, and mountain biking readily available. The College-owned forest has numerous picnic sites and hiking trails for students to explore.
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. SGA works hand-in-hand with clubs, organizations, and residence halls, whose representatives serve on various committees that help govern the entire community.