LifeReady: The Berry College Campaign for Opportunity

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I pray that I may leave the world more beautiful than when I found it.

– Martha Berry

Berry College is blessed with a campus of extraordinary size and splendor that long has been a vital element of the Berry educational experience. Believing that beauty instructs hearts as surely as academic lessons shape minds and work experience trains hands, Martha Berry set out to make the campus inspirational. Today, it is that and more. The Berry campus is an amazing, irreplaceable asset that we must steward carefully while capitalizing on the vast opportunities it provides.

Because no discussion about the future of the Berry mission would be complete without the context of this campus, we share extraordinary photography of Berry’s beauty throughout this book.

Perforated for easy removal, these images are suitable for framing as a keepsake both for the many whose affection for Berry is long-standing and those who are falling in love with it for the first time.

Extra prints of these images are available in limited quantity. Please call 877-461-0039.

Berry’s Historic Gate of Opportunity now marks the beautiful tree-canopied entrance to the school’s original recitation hall.

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Berry students graduate... ready to work – now. ready to learn – more. ready to serve – always.

Generous gifts to Berry in the 1920s and 1930s by Henry and Clara Ford, the English Gothic Ford Buildings are perhaps the most iconic of all campus buildings.

our story

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Our story Berry has never been just a school. It’s been a beacon of hope for individuals and society. It still is. Never has the character of a Berry education been more needed, and never has Berry College been better positioned to fulfill the promise and potential of its purpose.

The path was established in 1902 when Martha Berry broke all the rules. At a time when schools were scarce and options few, our entrepreneurial founder believed in the power of helping people help themselves and created a school that gave enterprising students the opportunity to both work in support of their education and live in a community dedicated to their improvement. The resulting “education of the head, heart and

hands” combined intellectual skills and practical skills in a way that shaped people known for their work ethic, integrity, resourcefulness and willingness to serve.

Martha Berry’s fledgling school provided a Gate of Opportunity so effective in preparing her students to improve their world that it caught the attention and earned the support of presidents and philanthropists, inventors and entrepreneurs – people like Henry and Clara Ford, Theodore Roosevelt, Andrew Carnegie, Emily Vanderbilt Hammond, Robert Woodruff, Thomas Edison, Helen Keller, Margaret Mitchell and the Macy family.

Head

HEART

Hands

our story

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Fast forward more than 110 years. Berry’s demanding academic programs rival those of many of the nation’s finest liberal arts institutions, and our voluntary student work program is the largest and most sophisticated of its type in the nation. We still value the dignity of work done well and are committed to serving others.

Our greatest distinction is rooted in Martha Berry’s innovative model of leveraging all aspects of student life – from classroom to dorm room and from workplace to play space – as a series of linked learning experiences that collectively become greater than the sum of their parts. Together, these firsthand experiences develop the whole person – head, heart and hands. Together, they prepare our students to hit the ground running in work, graduate school, community and society with determination, confidence, compassion and a strong sense of personal responsibility.

We are immensely proud of the Berry College that exists today.

Yet we envision a still better Berry. This improved Berry does not involve a change in course, but, rather, innovative progress in the same enduring direction.

Guided by a new strategic plan, Berry College is focused on further strengthening opportunities for our students to combine knowledge with firsthand experiences that help them discover gifts and realize potential. We will foster entrepreneurship, develop leadership, build partnerships, leverage resources, and nurture a community culture that values hard work, integrity and meeting the needs of others. We will also open Berry’s Gate of Opportunity wider still for talented students willing to invest in their own success by working in support of their education.

Powerful, distinctive and time-tested, the Berry educational model responds boldly to society’s call for more relevant and accessible higher education and for citizens willing to work hard and give more than they take. We commit ourselves and our resources to helping every student acquire the knowledge, experiences, character and conviction to improve their families, workplaces and communities. We are dedicated to providing an education that helps students become LifeReady.

Will you join us?

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A message from campaign leadership

J. Barry Griswell (71C) D. Randolph Berry Karen Holley Horrell (74C) Co-Chair Co-Chair Chair Campaign Steering Committee Campaign Steering Committee Board of Trustees

Opportunity long has been Berry’s pledge to hardworking students, and that opportunity has had tremendous results. The experience of a Berry education has changed lives; the character of a Berry education has changed communities.

Through LifeReady: The Berry College Campaign for Opportunity, we both renew and expand Berry’s historic commitment to providing opportunity. With the assistance of early partners, we have already increased access to a Berry education through funding for the Gate of Opportunity Scholarship Program. With additional support, we will extend access to life-building firsthand learning experiences for all students.

Stephen R. Briggs President Berry College

Those who know Berry love and respect it. Through this campaign new friends will be introduced. When you choose to invest in Berry College, you will be investing in the lives of the talented students who seek the character of a Berry education and in their full potential to impact their world. You also will be investing in Berry College’s potential to serve as a model for other institutions of higher learning seeking the way forward in helping their students become LifeReady.

We invite you to review each of the initiatives planned, enjoy the keepsake images of the remarkable campus that is home to the Berry College community, and determine how best you can help.

Yours most sincerely,

table of contents

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LifeReady: The Berry College Campaign for Opportunity Expand opportunities for students to invest in their own success . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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Gate of Opportunity and other scholarships . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

LifeReady mentoring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Develop leaders and entrepreneurs with character and compassion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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Entrepreneurship Center . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Integrity in Leadership Center . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Student enterprises and advanced work positions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Create places and spaces that spur student achievement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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The Sciences:

Animal science teaching and research facilities. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

McAllister Hall endowment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

The Arts:

Ford Auditorium . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Blackstone Hall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Student Life:

Valhalla stadium and Richards field house . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

Welcome Center and entry enhancement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

Meet current needs and fund future opportunities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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Annual giving for current needs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Estate gifts for greatest need . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Targeted gifts for special opportunities

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Campaign summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

How to give . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Campaign leadership . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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expand opportunities for students

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Expand opportunities for students

to invest in their own success

Help young people with talent and drive to envision the possibilities and then give them the chance to make their own dreams come true. That’s Berry opportunity; that’s the heart of the Berry mission. It develops character, broadens horizons, strengthens work ethic and builds selfrespect.

Through this campaign, we will increase access to Berry opportunity in two ways, one of which has already provided a model for breaking the cycle of student-loan debt in our nation by giving students the chance to work in support of their education and graduate debt free. The second will create a means for all Berry students to identify, evaluate and capitalize on the opportunities before them.

After all, going from freshman to LifeReady requires more than a major; it requires a map.

Our priorities in this area total $38 million. They are: ■ Gate of Opportunity and other scholarships ■ LifeReady mentoring

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Leah Bolden wants to earn her future. Berry donors gave her the chance.

Leah Bolden now helps a professor with research, but not long ago she was doing her own, looking for a way to go to college without burdening her family. After all, two brothers were already in college when her turn came, with a third close behind. That’s why the future doctor with a strong desire to make her own way – and to attend Berry – literally leaped with excitement right in the Atlanta airport when accepted into the Gate of Opportunity Scholarship Program. Her enthusiasm for working her way through college with the chance to graduate debt free has never waned, and Leah has made the most of the opportunity, also working as a Presidential Ambassador, tutor and head of the student philanthropy program. Leah thrives on challenge and works extra hard to honor her donors. Thanks to early campaign supporters, 130 Gate of Opportunity Scholarships are being endowed for generations of students like Leah.

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■ Gate

of Opportunity Scholarships Funded

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Gate of Opportunity Scholars at Berry “work their way through college” with the prospect of graduating debt free, a concept both central to the Berry mission and timely today, as excessive levels of student debt continue to make national headlines.

Each scholarship represents a three-way partnership that includes a student and his or her family, a donor, and Berry College, with each partner contributing about one-third of the cost of the student’s education. The student’s contribution comes largely through extensive participation in Berry’s Work Experience Program, the donor’s through earnings from an endowed fund.

This innovative scholarship program was the first campaign priority identified, and alumni and friends responded enthusiastically to a $10 million matching fund established by an anonymous donor to speed support for the program. Berry now has commitments for 130 Gate of Opportunity Scholarships that will benefit hardworking students for generations. Thank you!

■ Traditional

scholarships

Endowed scholarships are a Berry hallmark, with many alumni who benefitted from donor support as students choosing to provide the same opportunity for the next generation. In this campaign, we seek additional scholarship support, typically with a work requirement, for the students who need it most – those from low-income homes or from middle-class families with circumstances, such as multiple children of college age, that make affording a Berry education impossible. We also welcome new scholarships in recognition of outstanding effort and achievement.

Many alumni and friends want to help students and honor someone of importance in their lives. Named endowed scholarships provide a lasting means of doing both.

Berry’s current main entrance became its official “Gate of Opportunity” in 1995.

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■ LifeReady

mentoring

“If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will get you there.” It’s an old saying and true. That’s why we are focused on helping Berry students clarify not only the right destinations in life but also the best routes for reaching them. Having opportunity is the first step. Making the most of opportunity requires good judgment and takes hard work. For most students, it also takes a bit of help.

LifeReady mentoring builds on Berry’s Plan4ward initiative, a four-year process of self-appraisal, goal setting, planning, reflection and refinement through which students accept personal responsibility for their own educational experience. From preadmission interviews through graduation, LifeReady coaches will help students identify choices and integrate the advice of academic advisors, work supervisors, career counselors and others as they map out their personal route to LifeReady.

Evans Hall, formerly known as Trustees Hall and Mothers’ Memorial Building, was renamed in 1990 to celebrate the long history of friendship and support for Berry by the charitable foundations associated with Lettie Pate Whitehead Evans and her family.

Berry College provides a wealth of opportunities, and more will be created through this campaign. We want to ensure students get full benefit. The bottom line of LifeReady mentoring is simple: help students determine what they need for success and what endeavors, involvements and work experiences can combine with their studies to generate the strongest personal results.

Your support will boost our ability to initiate and expand this exciting new service for our students.

develop leaders and entrepreneurs

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Develop leaders and entrepreneurs

with character and compassion

Leadership and entrepreneurship are in Berry’s genes, particularly when it comes to using these skills for the benefit of others. Expanding our efforts means building on our heritage as well as our strengths. We need look no further than our entrepreneurial founder for a role model.

Berry also has what other colleges and universities with similar goals do not – an integrated education of the head, heart and hands that provides context for the development of leaders and entrepreneurs with a service orientation and integrity. Add in mentored opportunities for students to apply these skills in real-life work and community settings – as well as to conceptualize, develop and run entrepreneurial enterprises on campus – and the value of the Berry College model becomes clear.

Our priorities in this area total $12 million. They are: ■ Entrepreneurship Center ■ Integrity in Leadership Center ■ Student enterprises and advanced work positions

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Dakota Burke came to berry to study business. He graduated owning one.

One thing Dakota Burke could count on when he visited the beach: The skim board he bought to use in the surf would break before he left for home. Frustrated, he set to work handcrafting a more durable design. But then what? The double business/finance major took Professor Paula Englis’ Introduction to Entrepreneurship class with its $100 seed money. In short order a business was born, with alumni mentors helping Dakota arrange for manufacturing and even loaning a car for a sales trip to Florida. By the time he graduated, Diamond Boards LLC was worth more than $80,000 with 45 retailers in five states selling its products. Dakota had an idea and was willing to work hard. As a business major, he also had access to opportunity. Soon, enterprising students of all majors will too – whether they want to build a better mouse trap or develop new ways of “doing good.”

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■ Entrepreneurship

Center

Entrepreneurship is about more than starting businesses. It’s about thinking innovatively, solving problems and launching ideas.

It’s a mindset that has underpinned the American dream for generations.

Guided by an Advisory Council of practicing entrepreneurs and involved professors, Berry’s planned Entrepreneurship Center will further build such a mindset at Berry, with emphasis on social responsibility and student participation in research and outreach activities. The center will offer interested students of all majors short courses on the “whys” and “hows” of business and social entrepreneurship and will support the efforts of faculty members in all disciplines to integrate aspects of entrepreneurship into their classes. Students with a particular passion for entrepreneur­ ship will apply for sponsorship as “Entrepreneur Scholars” in a program designed to connect classwork with mentoring and networking opportunities, as well as internships at home or abroad.

Your support will make the center a reality and provide for ongoing education, research and outreach activities.

■ Integrity

in Leadership Center

The complex problems facing our world require a level and type of leadership seemingly in short supply – the ability to forge partnerships, engage different perspectives and utilize criticalthinking skills to make ethical and moral choices that improve the lives of others. Simply put, the world needs leaders who serve their families, workplaces and communities; the world needs leaders with Berry character.

While ethical leadership always has been central to a Berry education and life as a member of the campus community, now is the time to place new emphasis on developing Berry’s brand of leadership. Our planned Integrity in Leadership Center will bridge the academic, work and service components of a Berry education in true “hands-on” Berry fashion – through applied programming that includes immersion experiences simulating difficult moments of ethical dilemma, leadership classes, and grants for leadership projects and research. A unique business-leaders-as-mentors program that aims to pair top Berry students with successful business and community leaders is already being piloted.

The center will focus first and foremost on Berry students but will also serve faculty and staff members and residents of the regional community. Your gifts will fund the center and its many activities designed to inspire leaders who serve.

One of Berry’s newest residence halls – Audrey B. Morgan Hall – and the Emery Barns glow warmly at sunset.

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■ Student

enterprises and advanced work positions

Leadership. Entrepreneurship. Professionalism. Strong work ethic.

Talk about practical application! Berry’s unique student Work Experience Program provides firsthand experience in all of these areas. Many students work in positions related to their studies. All have responsibilities relevant to becoming LifeReady.

Heading the list of exceptional student work experiences at Berry are those in the innovative student enterprises program. Students conceptualize, develop and run real campus businesses including a dairy genetics enterprise that sells internationally and Season’s Harvest, a popular “local food” provider. In this campaign, we seek funding for three initiatives supporting student enterprises and our top-level student workers: 1) A Berry Enterprises Venture Fund that will make loans to student teams with outstanding proposals for new or expanded enterprises.

2) A Berry Enterprises Capital Fund to build a storefront for showcasing student enterprise products and to expand operations of “The Berry Farms” beef, dairy, produce, herbs and genetics enterprises.

3) Endowed funds supporting advanced student work positions, top-level jobs managing people and projects for students who rise to the top in workplaces across campus.

Eighty years after Henry and Clara Ford personally selected the finest craftsmen to create the Ford Buildings, a gift from the Ford Motor Company Fund helped restore and preserve their splendor.

Mary Chambers didn’t just head up a student enterprise, she directed the student team that provides support to all the student enterprises – including such services as accounting, marketing and project management. The marketing major, Leadership Fellow and Presidential Ambassador also interned at The Broadmoor in Colorado, a Five-Star, Five-Diamond luxury resort.

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Create places and spaces

that spur student achievement

We ask our students to do their best; they deserve the same from us. That means providing the kind of places and spaces that Martha Berry and her supporters did so many years ago in creating our wonderful campus – beautiful, functional, student-focused structures that continue to inspire, engage, educate and motivate. We can do that by preserving and renewing our venerable older structures whenever possible and by building anew when necessary to meet the needs of students at this time in Berry history. Through this campaign, we have the opportunity to do both.

Our priorities in this area total $25 million. They are: ■ The Sciences

Animal science teaching and research facilities

McAllister Hall endowment ■ The Arts

Ford Auditorium

Blackstone Hall ■ Student Life

Valhalla stadium and Richards field house

Welcome Center and entry enhancement

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Emily Barton doesn’t just dream about becoming a large-animal vet.

She works hard at it.

Emily Barton knows what it takes to get into vet school: grades, experience, interests, determination. Her GPA? Near perfection! It’s an impressive 3.94 out of 4. Her level of experience? Exceptional! A hands-on leadership position with the Berry College Dairy and two summers working with veterinarians, as well as caring for a horse and raising a guide-dog-in-training. Her interests? Broad. She’s also a ballerina, choreographer and Dance Troupe assistant manager.

Emily is determined to do everything she can to build her future. What does she deserve? The best learning facilities possible. We’re committed to creating them.

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■ The

Sciences

Animal science teaching and research facilities Berry College has what students interested in animal science need – great faculty, strong curriculum, access to hands-on experiences with large animals, and the opportunity to log up to four years of directly relevant work experience as undergraduates. Can it get any better than that? Yes. Berry’s program is so strong – including impressive veterinary school acceptance rates for our graduates – that the number of students majoring in animal science has soared over the last 10 years from 75 to 280, making it Berry’s No. 1 major. This explosive growth has led to crowded facilities that jeopardize the kind of student/faculty interaction and student participation in research that are Berry’s trademark and promise. Our students need room to “do.”

We intend to provide that space.

In this campaign, we will develop new animal science facilities that support curriculum advances aimed at taking Berry’s animal science program to the highest level. Our focus is on students interested in postgraduate work in veterinary medicine or research, as well as those drawn to futures in animal industries, such as food production and management.

Our plans include construction of facilities for handling both large and small animals with special focus on research and evaluation of the equine, bovine and ovine resources that are so integral to Berry’s program. We will also provide first-rate classrooms and other sophisticated learning environments that will add to the distinction of Berry’s highly respected program.

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■ The

Sciences

McAllister Hall endowment

Funded

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Gifts from alumni and friends to Berry’s Century Campaign made possible the opening of Berry’s science and math center in 2001.

Gifts from science alumni to this campaign have made possible the naming of that center in honor of the late physics professor Dr. Lawrence E. McAllister, often described as “one of the greatest teachers to ever teach at Berry.” These gifts support science education in McAllister Hall and science-based scholarships.

Thank you!

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■ The

Arts

Ford Auditorium Iconic. That’s how the Ford Buildings – gifts from Henry and Clara Ford in the 1920s and 1930s – are described at Berry College, including the beautiful Ford Auditorium. We will transform this English Gothic classic into a modern recital hall for the music program and other performances, carefully working within its beautiful bone structure to bring it into the 21st century.

Included in our plans are an enlarged stage, enhanced acoustics, improved backstage facilities, new audience seating, and new performance-quality sound and lighting systems. We will solve humidity and noise problems with a modern heating and air conditioning system, improve fire safety with sprinklers, and enhance beauty through both restoration and replacement of finishes and furnishings, as appropriate. A Century Campaign gift from the Ford Motor Company Fund in 2000 helped preserve the exterior of all the Ford structures. In this campaign, we will bring new life and expanded purpose to the interior of this very special space.

Hannah Ausband hit just the right notes for her future when selected to intern in the music department of Paramount Pictures in Los Angeles. The music major and composer hopes to write scores for film and visual media.

The beauty of Ford Auditorium is doubled by the reflecting pool in the center of the Ford Complex.

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■ The

Arts

Blackstone Hall Blackstone Hall, the first permanent brick building on Berry’s campus, was erected as a dining hall in 1915 and has enjoyed a long history of adaptive reuse. Since 1982, it has housed the E.H. Young Theatre and the college’s theatre program. Now it is time to restore the structure’s beauty and functionality once again for the benefit of our students and the enjoyment of the arts in our region.

Renovation of the existing building will provide multimedia, design-studio and acting/movement classrooms, as well as scene shop, costume shop, laundry room and storage facilities. An addition will include a 250-seat venue outfitted with state-of-theart sound and lighting systems for theatre and dance productions.

With this melding of old and new, Blackstone Hall will become the kind of facility that allows our talented theatre majors to create the highest-quality productions for our campus and local communities.

Allie Southwood excels on stage and off, earning regional recognition for both acting and properties design with the Berry College Theatre Company. The theatre major also has worked with a professional Atlanta “improv” company.

Blackstone Hall, a gift of Mrs. Timothy B. Blackstone of Chicago, stands regally in the heart of the south end of Berry’s main campus.

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■ Student

Life

Valhalla stadium and Richards field house Excitement. Achievement. Involvement. Opportunity. The Valhalla stadium and Richards field house project targets all four for Berry students and the greater Berry community. The dual endeavor includes the construction of Valhalla, a lighted stadium for football, lacrosse, and track and field with a synthetic turf field and eight-lane running surface, and the now-completed renovation of Roy Richards Memorial Gymnasium as a field house.

The stadium and field house support the addition of inter­ collegiate football at Berry, a program that got underway in the 2013-14 academic year, exceeding every expectation for attendance, excitement and the generation of school spirit. In fact, despite our “home” games being held off campus, Berry finished second in home attendance in the Southern Athletic Association. The new sport triggered the beat of the energizing Viking Drumline, already is helping balance the male/female ratio of Berry’s student population, and provides wonderful opportunities for parents and alumni to participate in the life of the college. Success! Now we must bring our team home.

But it isn’t all about football. When Valhalla is completed, our men’s and women’s lacrosse teams will have a permanent home field, and track and field will become Berry’s newest intercollegiate student opportunity, expanding upon our highly competitive cross country and distance running programs.

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â– Student

Life

Welcome Center and entry enhancement The renovation of Richards Gymnasium already offers a training/ weight room for all students, new dance-lab floor, refinished gym floor, and locker rooms and office space for football, lacrosse and tennis. All totaled, the Valhalla/Richards project offers something for just about everyone associated with Berry.

Berry is a destination – an educational, historical, cultural and recreational destination. Summer campers, hikers, bikers, photographers, nature lovers and history buffs all join students, prospective students, alumni, parents, local residents and other friends in enjoying Berry’s beautiful and bountiful resources. We need a campus entry that is both more welcoming and more secure.

Our plans call for construction of a Welcome Center and gated entry in a location that all vehicles entering campus must pass. In addition to a campus police officer, the Welcome Center will be staffed by students acting as hosts. A sophisticated security system will include a gate that allows faculty, staff and student vehicles with decals to pass but requires visitors to stop and register.

Also included in the project are significant improvements to the parking and entrance facilities of our main administration building, Hermann Hall, and the aesthetics of the main access road.

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Meet current needs

and fund future opportunities

As we work to build tomorrow, we must excel today. We can’t wait. Every student at Berry – now, next year and every year – deserves the very best experience we can provide. That’s why annual giving for current needs, accomplished through yearly participation in Berry’s Annual Fund, is a major goal in this campaign. It is also why estate giving for “greatest need” and targeted gifts for special opportunities are important. Gifts realized long into the future will address the hopes and needs of students we haven’t yet met and fund initiatives to carry the Berry mission onward; targeted gifts allow us to answer the proverbial door for our students when strategic opportunity knocks.

Our priorities for today and tomorrow total $25 million. They include: ■ Annual giving for current needs ■ Estate gifts for greatest need ■ Targeted gifts for special opportunities

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You can tell some leaders by the “hats” they wear.

With Harrison Daniels, it’s t-shirts.

The sure sign of any student-leader is the t-shirt, that revered and respected article of clothing proclaiming the activity or event in which the wearer has a stake. At last count, Harrison Daniels had about 80 of them. His titles were just as numerous – Berry Leadership Fellow, leadership coordinator, Presidential Ambassador, head SOAR leader and teaching assistant, to name just a few. The double physics/math major – with a concentration in com­­puter science and an eye toward graduate school – also became the go-to student expert on 3-D printing (note tie above), microcontrollers and other new technologies in the Physical Computing Lab and spent a year helping others through “Random Acts of Hope” with his six Hope Cottage roommates. Scholarships made it possible for Harrison to go to Berry; work program wages helped him stay here. Annual giving supports both.

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■ Annual

giving for current needs

Giving through Berry’s Annual Fund supports the needs of current students for financial aid, work wages, classroom technology, sports equipment, well-maintained facilities and more – all the components of a first-class firsthand education.

Dependable annual giving is important for all colleges and universities, and differing levels of participation, particularly by alumni, often separate good schools from great schools. Some schools call annual giving their competitive edge. We know its power.

Gifts to the Annual Fund turn “what could be” into “what is” for students at Berry today, including making a Berry education possible for many and a LifeReady education a reality for all.

Ninety percent of Berry donors will make their gifts to this campaign through the Annual Fund, and 100 percent of those gifts will be needed and important to Berry students. Yet some may feel that a $25, $100 or even $1,000 gift each year won’t matter much in a $100 million campaign. Nothing could be further from the truth. For Berry to continue to build momentum and accomplish the transformational goals of this campaign, we need all Berry alumni and friends to demonstrate their belief in the Berry mission and the students at Berry today through support for the Annual Fund each and every year.

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■ Estate

gifts for greatest need

We can’t always know what tomorrow will bring; estate gifts earmarked for use “wherever need is greatest” help Berry both capitalize on the future and defend against it.

Since Berry’s founding, unrestricted gifts made through the wills of alumni and friends have sustained the school during difficult periods in our nation’s history and funded exciting advances for students. Donors have run the gamut – from alumni and friends who know us well to an out-of-state chemist who visited just once.

Some of Berry’s most famous and visionary friends have chosen to support the college in this far-reaching, flexible way.

Some estate gifts become wonderful surprises; even better is the security of knowing they are there for the future. Those who alert us to their estate plans become members of the Berry Heritage Society and highly valued contributors to this campaign. All gifts of all sizes are important.

■ Targeted

gifts for special opportunities

The possibilities are endless. Through extensive strategic planning, the priorities of this campaign are the projects we judge to be the most critical in creating the still-better Berry we envision for the future – a Berry that is even more effective in helping students become LifeReady. Yet there is much more we could do.

We have an extensive master plan that includes numerous other projects that will interest some alumni and friends, and new opportunities to enhance programming for our students arise regularly. Gifts to turn such opportunities into reality will be warmly welcomed as important additions to this campaign.

campaign summary

34

LifeReady: The Berry College Campaign for Opportunity Expand opportunities for students to invest in their own success . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $38 M

Gate of Opportunity and other scholarships

LifeReady mentoring

Develop leaders and entrepreneurs with character and compassion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $12 M

Entrepreneurship Center

Integrity in Leadership Center

Student enterprises and advanced work positions

Create places and spaces that spur student achievement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $25 M

The Sciences:

Animal science teaching and research facilities

McAllister Hall endowment

The Arts:

Ford Auditorium

Blackstone Hall

Student Life:

Valhalla stadium and Richards field house

Welcome Center and entry enhancement

Meet current needs and fund future opportunities

Annual giving for current needs

Estate gifts for greatest need

Targeted gifts for special opportunities

Total

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

$25 M

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $100

M

The rebirth of the Normandy dairy complex as the WinShape Retreat Center won a National Preservation Honor Award. It was built by Berry students in the 1930s.

how to give

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How to give Gifts to this campaign can be made in a myriad of ways, including outright gifts of cash, stock, real estate and personal property; companies sometimes match the charitable contributions of their employees. Pledges can be paid over a period of up to five years, allowing many donors to make a larger gift – and leave a larger legacy – than initially thought possible.

Numerous alumni will have the opportunity to support the campaign through special reunion gifts, and we hope all alumni and friends will choose to support the Annual Fund each and every year. Finally, a portion of the anticipated future benefit of gifts made through an estate, charitable gift annuity, or other form of “planned” giving will be included in campaign totals in accordance with campaign accounting guidelines.

For more information on how to give to help Berry students become LifeReady, please contact the Berry College Office of Advancement toll-free at 877-461-0039 or visit our website at www.berry.edu/LifeReady.

Frost Memorial Chapel, constructed by students and staff in the 1930s, was a gift of Mr. and Mrs. Howard Frost of Los Angeles in memory of their son, John. Its beauty is carried in the hearts and minds of all associated with Berry.

leadership list

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Campaign leadership D. Randolph Berry, Co-Chair J. Barry Griswell (71C), Co-Chair G. Bert Clark Jr. (82C), Vice-Chair Cathleen O’Connell Anderson (77C) Sheryle Junelle Bolton (68c) Peter J. Capponi Karen Holley Horrell (74C) Janna S. Johnson, Ph.D. (81C) Anne Hydrick Kaiser Roger W. Lusby III (79C) Barbara Pickle McCollum (79C) Nancy Johnston Mercer Frances Esther Richey (83A, 87C) Leonard P. Roberts Lisa Fanto Swain (76C) Martha Berry Walstad Haron W. Wise (57H) Cecil B. Wright III (73C)

Honorary Members W. Glenn Cornell (62C), Honorary Co-Chair Audrey B. Morgan, Honorary Co-Chair Frank Barron Jr. James H. Blanchard Steven J. Cage (74C) Dan T. Cathy J. Paul Ferguson, M.D. Timothy J. Goodwin (03C) Lou Brown Jewell Sunny K. Park

“

”

We walk into tomorrow on the lives of our youth.

– Martha Berry

P.O. Box 490069 Mount Berry, GA 30149-0069 706.236.2253 or 877.461.0039 FAX 706.236.1700 www.berry.edu/LifeReady