One foot in front of the other. One mile at a time.
That’s what Kimberly Berry tells young girls in the running group she coaches at Bermuda Elementary. You’re good enough. You’re strong enough. And you can cross the finish line.
It’s part of Berry’s personal mantra as well. She’s excelled for 15 years as a kindergarten teacher in the Ferguson-Florissant School District. An avid runner, she’s completed several races and is training to run the Chicago Marathon in October. “My goal is to finish and say, ‘Yes, I ran a marathon,’” Berry said. “It’s 26 miles but I look at it as one mile at a time.”
Berry is part of the 2016 class of Salute to Excellence Award recipients in education, selected for their dedication to youth and their positive impact in the community. Berry says the award came as a surprise, because “I’m just doing what I’m supposed to do every day. Most teachers go through their entire career without recognition.”
Of course, the work has its challenges. Berry, 41, ran track in high school and she picked up the habit again as a way to relax after long days teaching five-and-six-year-olds. “As an African-American woman, it’s important to care for your physical health and mental and emotional health too,” Berry said. “Running helps me be my best for those around me.”
Berry believed that running could benefit her students too. In 2013, she started a chapter of Girls on the Run, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to build self-esteem and confidence in young girls. At Bermuda Elementary, the program enrolls girls ages eight to 12, from third to sixth grade, though initially Berry wondered if any girls in that age group would be interested.
“The hook of the program is ‘I can do anything I put my mind to. I am smart. I am strong and yes, I can complete a 5K.’”
Several girls signed up. The program’s goal is to empower the young girls, boost their body image and help them develop into strong women. “It’s not about who is the fastest or finishes first, but that you complete the race,” she said. “That feeling is contagious, even for me as their coach and mentor. I am strong and capable.”
She continues, “If we put this into young girls’ minds at a young age – a lot of young girls don’t have that – feed them with that language so it’s embedded in them and it becomes intrinsic, they don’t have to seek it out from other sources.”
A St. Louis native, Berry graduated from Metro High School in 1993. She earned a bachelor’s degree in early childhood education and a master’s degree in elementary education with a reading certificate from University of Missouri-St. Louis (UMSL).
Henderson Berry, class of 1971 at UMSL, is proud that his daughter followed in his footsteps. “She’s always been an academic. We always had a library of various books and whether it was sports, politics or geography or history she grew up discussing it and knowing about it.”
Jacqueline Turner, Kimberly Berry’s mother, wasn’t surprised to hear her daughter was going to receive a Salute award this year. “I wondered why it hadn’t happened sooner,” Turner said. “She’s always taken ownership in projects and has been a leader for adults and children. She’s always done her best.”
Running a marathon is another challenge she knows her daughter can tackle. “She has tenacity. She will get the job done. Once she accepts an assignment, she will see it through. She’s going to get across that finish line.”
Berry said she loves meeting children at the beginning of their school journey to help shape an early love of learning. “People ask me why I have stayed at the same school for so long and at the same grade,” Berry said. She’s worked at Bermuda Elementary School since 2001. “Back in the day, longtime teachers became part of the community, they were fixtures in the community. So this is my way of being vested in the community.”
Year after year. One class at a time.
And eventually, the work comes full circle. Two years ago she went to the high school graduation for her first kindergarten class. “The families remembered who I was and thanked me,” Berry said. “And all of the children that graduated from that class were going to college and graduating in the top 10 percent of their class. I kept thinking, ‘Wow I had a part in that.’”
