Marsha Berry has been the beloved CCS College and Career Counselor for 6 years. Though almost every student has met with her at some point in their high school career, very few know the story that led her to Carmel.

Berry has lived an interesting life with a variety of experiences, one of which was spending her childhood in Guam. She moved from Winston-Salem to Guam when she was 10 years old and spent the rest of her teenage years there before leaving for college in Greenville, South Carolina. Berry attended Bob Jones University for her undergraduate degree in counseling, and she enjoyed her experience there but had difficulty fitting in at some points. Nevertheless, she looks back on her college years with fondness and reminisces about all of the wonderful opportunities and experiences she had. Berry met her husband Mike their freshman year at Bob Jones in their History of Civilization class. The two have been together ever since! After her undergraduate degree, Berry attended Clemson University for her master’s degree in counseling.

Reflecting on her life, Berry reminisced over her childhood in Guam. She states “I absolutely loved Guam; it’s warm year-round, very tropical and the small size of it creates a wonderful sense of community.” Not only this, but Berry explains that Guam is “the melting pot of the Pacific,” and being raised in Guam exposed her to numerous cultures and different ways of life. Living there also gave her access to different parts of the world such as Japan, the Philippines and other remote islands. In fact, her senior trip was to Korea! Berry loved traveling to these countries and experiencing their different lifestyles. She even hosted Vacation Bible School in some of these places and brought an interpreter to communicate with the locals!

Berry had many different career paths before landing at Carmel. She mainly worked in early intervention, which served families with children with special needs. Berry was the Service Coordinator, assisting families by providing the opportunity to receive physical therapy and speech therapy for their children. Berry loved this job and the families that she helped. After this, she worked for 2 years in a program similar to Pathways. This job was at a Christian school in Raleigh, and the program is still thriving.

Berry has two sons, a husband and a dog. Both her sons attended Carmel Christian; Ethan graduated last year and is now a Freshman at Florida International University, and Logan is a Sophomore at Carmel. Her sons attended Carmel for 2 years before she became the counselor, but the moment she took the job, she knew that this was where she belonged. She always knew she wanted to work in a Christian setting but never wanted to be a teacher. Berry waited and looked for the right opportunity, and immediately knew that God wanted her as the CCS College and Career Counselor. 

Berry absolutely loves her job; she loves being in a Christian environment, as she can speak freely with others about Jesus and loves working with teenagers. Berry states “it took me a while to figure out what I truly wanted to do, but I love figuring out what students’ futures may look like.”

An interesting, little known fact about Berry is her talent and love for playing piano! She has been playing since she was 3 years old, but stopped taking piano lessons in her senior year of high school. She still plays to this day, but explains that she plays for herself, her own enjoyment and as a way to relax. Another activity Berry enjoys is watching British TV! She loves anything on Masterpiece, but her favorite British film is “Pride and Prejudice.”