In August 2009, Kelci Reed ’13 left her small-town Indiana home and the single mother who had raised her and cried all the way to Berea. A self-described homebody, Reed said her mom and that little place outside of Muncie was all she knew, and at 18 years old, she and her mother spent their last dinners together mourning her departure.
As a kid, she had been a competitive swimmer, but now, after a little thought, she aimed to be a teacher. To get there, she was going to have to navigate a new world much different than the one in which she’d grown up. On the second day of class, she encountered some luck that would help her get through it: she met her future husband, Brett Roddy ’12.
She also made a pack of friends who would be there for her throughout. Otherwise, adjusting to her new environment was pretty tough, and she’d need the help of her teachers. The first of her special teachers was Dr. Bobby Starnes, professor of General Studies and Appalachian Studies, who would become an important mentor as Reed worked her way through college. In her classes, Reed was learning things about herself, primarily what her strengths and weaknesses were.
“There were things I was good at,” Reed said. “I was good at coming up with ideas. I was pretty good in a classroom with kids. But there were things that I wasn’t great at. I was not a great writer. I wasn’t good with grammar because this wasn’t really something that my high school stressed at all. I’m not a great tester. Some didn’t feel like
I would be a good educator, but I kept pushing. I was constantly in somebody’s office.”
One of those offices Reed was constantly in was that of Dr. Althea Webb, associate professor of Education Studies.
Webb was fairly new to Berea at the time. She had read about the College while completing her Ph.D. at the University of Kentucky and wished she had heard about it sooner. Webb had come from western Kentucky and would have been eligible to attend Berea as a young person, but no one told her about it, so she relied on grants and scholarships to start her collegiate journey at a different liberal arts school. When she finally landed at Berea College to teach future educators, Webb identified with the students immediately.
“I come from a working-class background,” Webb said. “So, I understand that part. I come from poverty, and I knew that didn’t necessarily limit your intellectual capabilities. And then to find this whole school that’s been here forever. The students are delightful. They are respectful. They are passionate. They understand the stakes are high, and I’m just happy to help them reach their goals. That’s my joy.”
Webb also said she’s particularly drawn to students who have “a little spunk in them,” and some push-back, ones who challenge you. “I don’t take it personally,” she said. “To me, that’s a survival instinct.”
And Kelci Reed was one of those students who had a little spunk.
“Her spirit is strong,” Webb explained. “And she had strong women in her family—her mother and her grandmother—so she was going to be a strong woman. And you know, sometimes the world pushes back against strong women. Our society expects women to be obedient, and that’s not necessarily in our own interest. Kelci was someone who was fully who she was, and sometimes that’s difficult for people around you. I saw it in myself as a young woman, and all I did was give Kelci her freedom to spread her wings and be who she was. She wanted to be a teacher with all her heart, and she just blossomed.”
While Dr. Webb saw herself in Reed, Kelci saw someone else in Dr. Webb: a mother who had been missing in her life since she left home.
“She changed my life,” Reed explained. “She did. I would not have made it through without her. Some of the other professors were hard to adjust to, and I don’t know whether it was personality or curriculum, but it made for a lot of rough days. You’re very much trying to figure out who you are without your parents, and it’s so very foreign. So, to have that mother-figure was what I needed.”
The two women shared a similar story where they really connected in class. It involved a group project about Ruby Bridges, the civil rights activist who was the first child to integrate a school in New Orleans and who was the subject of a famous Norman Rockwell painting. One goal was for the students to act out characters in Bridges’ story, and another was for them to present their own versions of it. For Reed, it was the classic tension of the collegiate group project: she felt she was doing all the work. But she also felt Dr. Webb acknowledged that and rewarded her for her effort. But Webb’s version is a little different. She said she didn’t designate a leader for the project, but Reed took on the role naturally and managed to get the other students to do more work for Kelci than they had done for Dr. Webb. Reed’s natural leadership skills were what impressed her most.
“Teaching is so rewarding,” Dr. Webb reflected, “to have that ability to make connections with people individually. And you never really know how it plays out in their life. I’ve never done anything that I’ve enjoyed more, and I’ve enjoyed teaching here more than any other place I’ve ever taught. I’m getting close to retirement. Without a doubt, it’s going to be hard to leave.”
In December 2013, Kelci graduated. A couple months later, she had a graduation party back home, and Dr. Webb was unable to attend. But she sent a letter to Kelci that she tucked in with her diploma, and Kelci took with her out into life thereafter. In the letter, Dr. Webb reminds her of the joy and laughter they shared and then acknowledged that she had a hard time getting through, but also that she was more than a few scores on a portfolio assessment.
“You are strong, beautiful and intelligent,” Webb wrote. “That little girl who was the competitive swimmer at age 7 has grown into a woman with ‘mad skills.’”
She closed that she would always be there when Reed needs her but doesn’t think that she will. Though Webb couldn’t make it to Reed’s graduation party, she did show up for her wedding.
“When I got married,” Reed said, “she drove for hours, rolled up and just gave me and mom a hug, said I love you, and got in her car and left.”
Ten years later, Kelci, the teacher, still sends Webb Christmas cards and gifts. The most recent gift was a coffee mug that reads simply, “Read the syllabus.” And whenever Reed visits Berea, she brings her kids with her so Dr. Webb can hold them, because cuddling babies is Webb’s other specialty.
