Hidden Rooms on Campus
Photo Courtesy of Sower Staff
By Hannah Birtell
By the time many students reach junior and senior standing, they may think that they know all of the rooms throughout Concordia’s campus. There are some rooms or in one case, a whole floor, that students may not know even existed.
One place students may not know exists is the Bartels Rock and Mineral Museum.
Most of the rocks and minerals inside this museum were collected over the course of three decades by Walter and Ella Bartels, who then donated their collection to Concordia. There are over 75 displays inside the museum with hundreds of rocks and minerals within them.
The museum is located in the basement of Link Library and is usually open during library business hours, though it is closed currently due to COVID.
A second place few students have ventured into is the basement of Jesse.
Jesse was originally built to be a dormitory, but it now contains the offices of many professors. While the top two floors of Jesse have changed a lot since they once housed students, the basement is a step into the past.
Old furniture lays along the sides of the hall and the original structure of the dorm hall has been retained. One can almost imagine Concordia students from a bygone era living and working in this hall.
The basement of Jesse can be explored by continuing down the staircase that connects the 2nd floor, 1st floor and one of the outside doors.
One last place many students are unaware of is the Instructional Technology Center (ITC).
The ITC is located in the south corner of Link Library just passed the computer lab.
Student workers, like freshmen Matthew Sherman, in the ITC are there to help other students succeed in their classes.
“What we do is we checkout various computer equipment that you can need,” he said. “There are different cables. You can get a recorder or a camera or something.”
Sherman also said that students can come into the ITC with any computer problems, and they will be happy to fix them.
Concordia’s campus is full of surprises and helpful resources. Take time to explore places off the beaten path and maybe more hidden rooms will be revealed.
