Berea Leadership Experience

07/20/2024

We just closed out our 5th year of the Berea Leadership Experience!! Our staff and friends of BLE hope that everyone is walking away feeling inspired, more confident, with new friends, and equipped with tools to help navigate this world - which can often be worrisome - in a peaceful way. Thank you for trusting us with your little leaders! Enjoy this video with highlights from our time together!!

Thank you to our sponsors:
Berea Women’s Club (Older)
Berea Friends Meeting
Union Church Berea
Berea Kids Eat
GFWC Berea Woman's Club
Print My Threads
Along with many individuals who contributed to provide staff meals and camper scholarships!

Special thanks to everyone who showed up with their full selves and shared their amazing talent with us:

Madison County Public Library - Ashley Hammond
Jonathan Beatty “Chief Bookman” of I Love Books
Keith Bullock
Sam Gleaves and Deborah Payne
Councilwoman Katie Startzman of Native Bagel Company Nightjar
JonathanandLeslie Clark
And ALL of the incredible staff and steering committee! THANK YOU! 💙

Send a message to learn more

07/20/2024

When asked what positive messages or ideas they’d like to put out into the world…

Plant trees
Read more books
Turn off electricity (or save)
Get outside
Don’t litter
We are 98% related by DNA
How to make bow and arrow
Pick up trash
Spread LOVE!

The kids are alright. 💙

07/19/2024

Every year, we revisit the life and mission of Dr. Michelle Tooley, the peace and social justice professor who envisioned the Berea Leadership Experience…this is our fifth year of camp since its creation after her passing. May her good work continue on through all of us!

07/18/2024

We’re so lucky to have real-life peaceful leaders living amongst us… thank you, Councilwoman Katie Startzman (and owner of Native Bagel Company and Nightjar), for teaching us how to organize to create the community we wish to see!

07/17/2024

Nothing better than a creek day with Ms. Luna of Berea Earth Warriors! We cooled off in the swimming hole, played with crawdads, and watched schools of tiny fish swimming around!

07/17/2024

Thank you so much Mr. Keith Bullock for teaching us about Muhammad Ali, both the boxer and exemplar of peace this morning! 💢🥊

07/17/2024

Taking savasana, or “corpse pose,” quite literally, aren’t we! 😆

07/16/2024

“Yellow Submarine” has been a camp favorite every single year…opening each day with song is a practice of setting positive and affirming intentions for our day.

07/15/2024

Reading is essential for any peaceful leader to successfully navigate the world. Today, we dedicated our afternoon to getting excited about reading, believing in ourselves, and celebrating artistry with Chief Bookman, Jonathan Beatty of I Love Books, and a visit from the Madison County Public Library bookmobile!!

06/20/2024

Kentucky! We have 118,429 children enrolled. Let's enroll1,571 more little ones to reach 120,00 for June.

https://imaginationlibrary.com/usa/find-my-program/

06/18/2024

We're so excited to be working with Print My Threads again this year for our t-shirts (every camper gets one)! As we get closer to camp in July, we have a few spots open for last minute registrations...if you were thinking about signing your kid up, there is still a little time! The online form is here: https://shorturl.at/ioyDU
July 15-19th, 9am-2pm
Rising 2nd-8th graders.

05/25/2024

At BLE, we love to read! Here's an opportunity to encourage your PreK-6th graders to read this summer! https://www.bookitprogram.com/

04/24/2024

Registration for the 2024 Berea Leadership Experience is OPEN!
July 15-19th, 9am-2pm
Rising 2nd-8th graders.
What do we do at camp? Check it out: https://www.facebook.com/bereakidslead/videos/823503355952295

https://shorturl.at/ioyDU
The online registration form will remain open until camp is full.

04/21/2024

The applications to be part of our amazing Counselor team are now open!

Junior Counselor (Age 13-18years, must be rising 9-12th grade):
https://forms.gle/1Wg6hFEwQyoFtPud7

Counselor (Ages 18+)
https://forms.gle/KFLYoZwnk5CUZen7A

03/20/2024

We're excited to share our theme for this summer's experience, "I am enough." You may recognize the inspiration as coming from the Barbie movie!

The dates for this year's Berea Leadership Experience are July 15th-19th and registrations will be opening soon! As always, we accept every camper regardless of their ability to pay (until all spots fill up) because of generous individuals and organizations like you! If you'd like to sponsor a camper or make a general donation, please do so at this link: https://bit.ly/3mr93OJ

We also have spots open on our Steering Committee so reach out in a message to the page to express your interest!

01/23/2024

📅Mark your calendars for this summer's Leadership Experience!

And as always, your contributions ensure our leadership experience is available to any child regardless of their ability to pay. Support Berea's leaders of tomorrow TODAY! https://bit.ly/3mr93OJ

Registrations will open soon!