Hope and Hospitality
In the landscape of higher education, there is only one Berea College—its compelling mission and the inspiring story of how it serves students and society have long set it apart. Now, the College has a new way to share that story with guests visiting Boone Tavern, the College Square shops, and the city of Berea itself. In July, Berea College opened a reimagined Visitor Center on College Square, right next to Boone Tavern.
“The Visitor Center is a really exciting space. I feel like it’s the front door to the College,” said Rebecca Parker, director of Berea’s new center. She and her staff of student workers have quickly made it a place where students, locals, and visitors from afar can all connect with each other while learning more about the College’s history and its mission.
Before its recent redesign, the Visitor Center focused on providing Berea-branded and other merchandise. But now, it’s become a way for visitors to step deeply into the inspiring Berea College story.
Parker’s vision for the Visitor Center is based on hospitality. “One of the things I like to talk about with my students is what it means to visit with someone,” she explained. “Visiting is a two-way thing, where you’re both sharing stories and listening.” That’s how she sees the Visitor Center: its numerous storyboard displays, historical artifacts, and Student Craft items for sale can all help a guest understand the College’s history. But what’s most important is giving them a chance to connect with today’s Berea as they visit with Parker and her students.
Faith ’29, a student who works in the center, takes Parker’s focus on hospitality to heart. “I’ve learned to make meaningful and long-lasting connections with visitors through our guiding philosophy of ‘radical hospitality,’” she said. “Our goal is to make every visitor feel as though they’re a welcomed guest in our home.”
Every guest will know more about Berea by the time they leave the Visitor Center, but there’s something else that Parker wants them to take away as well. “I want them to have the feeling that while they were here, we were present with them,” she said. “People want to share their stories, and those stories are so interesting and have brought about so many magical moments.”
As Parker and her students show guests around the Visitor Center, they often discover unexpected connections between each other and the space itself as they learn and share—like the time she showed a visiting alumna a display of hand-painted sugar cubes, only to learn that the visitor had worked in the Candy Kitchen for her work program position as a student, painting those very same sugar cubes herself. “I think that’s the real potential of this place,” Parker reflected. “It helps us create opportunities for people to understand each other better.”
Tapping into the interests and passions of the students she oversees has helped Parker bring that vision to life. “We have 19 students who work here,” she said. “I really view this as an educational opportunity, like so much of the work program is.” Parker encourages each student to look for ways in which their own interests can enrich the Visitor Center and help guests get to know the College. “I’ve been having students dive into the histories of things they’re interested in,” she explained. “A lot of students have been going through the Chimes yearbooks. We have a group of students who are all athletes, and they’ve been revisiting the history of sports at the College.”
Each new and interesting thing that Parker’s students discover in the College’s Special Collections and Archives is one more way for a guest to find their own connection to Berea. “I want my students to look at all these pictures, items, and artifacts as ways to open up conversations with people,” she said. “There are a lot of different ways to start a conversation, and these objects are one way to do that.”
One student, Wade ’30, made a special display of his own just in time for last month’s One Reunion event, which brought more than a thousand alumni back to Berea. Inspired by Berea’s commitment to sustainability and the beautiful items made by Student Craft, Wade created a sustainable weaving kit that guests can take home, featuring a handmade cardboard loom and instructions for how to use it. “I spent the past three weeks learning how to make the loom and weave a pattern that would be simple but special for alumni weekend,” Wade said. “This experience gave me so much joy.”
Wade loves getting the chance to share Berea with those who may be new to it. “Helping visitors understand Berea College a little better brings such a smile to my face,” he said. “Being able to tell them the beautiful things that have happened or are happening here means so much to me.”
The new Visitor Center is meant to help guests understand just a little bit better what Berea College is all about. Parker and her students do that by showing authentic Berean care and hospitality to every single visitor—the same spirit of welcome that is such a vital part of who we are at Berea. “I love every part of Berea College and the opportunities it’s given students for nearly two centuries,” said Faith. “That’s one of the main reasons that I love what I do here at the Visitor Center. I hope I can inspire visitors to love Berea as much as I do.”
