Student Senate to purchase firewood storage container, facilitate tuning of dorm pianos
The outdoor chapel at Concordia University, Nebraska.
Photo credit: Nora Betts
By Nora Betts
Managing Editor
Student Senate representatives voted on Tuesday to purchase a $260 firewood storage container for the outdoor chapel behind David Hall as the final step in the Senate’s four-year process of outdoor chapel construction.
Firewood is currently stored in piles on the grass next to the outdoor chapel, which means the wood is exposed to the elements, said Senate Treasurer Emma Kettelhake. The storage container, which is around 4.5 feet tall, four feet wide, and 2.5 feet deep, is meant to house firewood and other fire supplies and keep them dry. It is made of hard plastic with hinged panels to access the contents from the top and front of the structure.
Some Senate representatives, including seniors David Claridge and Matthew Koenig, raised concerns about the durability of the firewood storage container. They said they have found that similar containers get worn out within a year and do not sufficiently keep snow out.
“Specifically in a wintry climate where there’s lots of snow, snow has a great habit of getting into these,” said Koenig. “I’ve worked with a handful of them, and they’ve not survived winters usually with the contents being dry.”
After discussing other options such as constructing a wooden container or covering the plastic container with a tarp, a majority vote by Senate representatives approved plans to purchase the container and test whether it will keep the firewood dry this school year. Senate President Quinlan Hendrickson said the storage container will be assessed after the winter.
“If we put this up this winter, it’s extremely leaky, and then in the spring once the snow melts and we’re like, “Oh, this was bad,” we can look into a tarp or something like that,” said Hendrickson.
The Senate-funded outdoor chapel project began in the Spring 2022 semester, and steps have been accomplished across five Senate administrations.
A platform with electrical outlets was constructed in the summer of 2022, and benches were installed in the Fall 2022 and Spring 2023 semesters. A firepit was added to the space in Fall 2023. In Spring 2024, Hughes Brothers donated metal beams for the construction of an outdoor cross, which was designed and created by then-junior Hannah Helmer and Concordia’s Center for Liturgical Art. The cross was installed in the summer of 2024.
Piano tuning
Senate officers also said they worked with Chief Operating Officer Kim Boyce to address the issue of out-of-tune pianos in dorms across campus. Hendrickson said that the administration is paying Concordia security officer Marcos Ramos to tune five pianos, and he has already completed two of them.
“We’re having Marcos, one of the security guards, who’s the husband of Karen [Centeno] in charge of the library– they are both very good musicians, so he is tuning the pianos for a lot cheaper than we otherwise could have done it,” said Hendrickson.
Senior Grace Donnelly said she noticed that the piano in David Hall was tuned and “was not horrendous anymore.”
