Christina Barrett is the Director of Marketing and Student Recruitment at Berkshire Community College, but her involvement with local nonprofit organizations is practically another full-time job. On top of all her charitable work, she also manages to find some time for herself, hitting rural roads in the Berkshires as a long-distance runner. At BCC I am responsible for public relations, marketing and our website in addition to overseeing admission. Prior to this job, I worked for the Chamber of Commerce, so I am devoted to bettering the region; community is what's important to me. I love working with students, anyone from high school kids to non-traditional aged students. It's great to be able to help them. I work with many nonprofits in the community and that’s where I place my values. I am on the board of Berkshire United Way and am involved in projects such as working with third graders and inviting them to come experience a taste of the college life, and Pittsfield Economic Development Authority, a quasi-public agency which is working to redevelop approximately 52 acres of General Electric Company’s former industrial facility located in the heart of Pittsfield. Massachusetts. I am very involved with the Chamber of Commerce, still. Even after I was no longer employed there I couldn’t part with it, so I am still on the several committees. I really dove into working with Berkshire Young Professionals and am excited by the work they do, not just for social reasons but for philanthropic reasons. I am also very involved with the Youth Leadership Program for high school juniors in Berkshire County. We open them up to career pathways and local opportunities so they will work here after graduation. We invite local experts in healthcare, education, the environment and the legal system to come in and talk about how they got there. It then opens the students' eyes to areas they didn’t know they had a passion for and makes them realize there are a lot of opportunities for them in the Berkshires. I live in Pittsfield and am originally from Marlborough, Mass. I went to MCLA for my undergrad and during my senior year took an internship at a bank, which became a full-time position. Up until then, I had never imagined living in the Berkshires; I thought I would go back home after college and live in the Boston area. After working in the North Adams area for a few years, I found out I really enjoyed the Berkshires.
I am a runner, but it's not about speed; I'm the tortoise, not the hare. I initially started just to get in shape, and that's the quickest way to do so, but living in the Berkshires is really what has kept me doing it so long. I initially entered a 5K and was abysmal. It was embarrassing; people much older than me shuffled by. I decided to go big or go home and trained for the 2012 NYC Marathon. That was then cancelled, for the first time ever, because of Hurricane Sandy. Then I entered the 2013 Boston Marathon but had to stop at mile 24 due to the bombings. The following year, the Boston Marathon officials were kind enough to invite runners back to pick up where they left off and I finished the marathon. It was pretty amazing. I am going to Washington, DC in a few weeks for the Marine Corps Marathon. While training in the winter I sometimes go to a gym, but its so much more interesting to be running outside. I did my last 20-mile run by Lake Pontoosuc and it was incredible to see the mountains and foliage.
