The Berea College campus is managed sustainably with attention to the wellbeing of pollinators and other insects. This also becomes a learning opportunity for all.
Speaker: Laurie Roelofs is the 9th first lady of Berea College. She and her husband, Lyle, arrived to serve Berea College in July of 2012; they have announced plans to retire as of June 30, 2023.
Laurie serves the College by organizing many social events in connection with board meetings and presidential level entertaining, by chairing the Frost Committee which oversees the College’s Boone Tavern Hotel, by traveling with the president for fundraising purposes and by serving on the Students of Concern Committee.
She is known for her engagement with the student population and especially for her work in promoting sustainable management of the campus. Her initiatives have included the creation of four Monarch Way Stations on campus; obtaining Bee Campus designation for the College; and enhancing pollinator habitats in or near campus. She also participates extensively in education around these efforts, partnering with Biology professor Dr. Ron Rosen in teaching introductory-level Zoology students about the monarch life cycle (each student gathers a monarch egg and takes it through its stages until the butterfly emerges from its chrysalis and is released on campus) and frequent sessions with pre-K and primary students in local schools.
Laurie was born and raised in Michigan, received her education in Nursing at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, MI (where she met and married Lyle), worked as a nurse in hospital settings for five years, transitioned career-wise to pre-primary education, continuing her college-level work in that area at Cabrini College in Pennsylvania and worked at Friends School Haverford for 14 years, and has since 2004 been primarily involved supporting her husband’s work in higher education administration. She and Lyle have two sons, both married, and five grandchildren, all cute, but naughty as the dickens, a trait that runs in her side of the family.
Laurie’s interests include nature, travel, her faith and her family.
The Garden Club of Kentucky is hosting monthly meetings via Zoom on third Thursdays, 7:00 Eastern / 6:00 Central. Each month, we’ll have a presentation on a Garden Club or a gardening topic, with time for Q&A. Come early for socializing in small groups in breakout rooms. Everyone is welcome to attend! You do not have to be a member of a Garden Club.
- Zoom Link
- Zoom ID 984 8356 0811
- Passcode: goldenrod
- Or type in zoom.us/join
BY PHONE
Meeting ID: 984 8356 0811
Passcode: 498706910
Dial 1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)
or find your local number: https://zoom.us/u/aeH2EdWTj5
