Ice rinks offer students chance to enjoy the outdoors

The past two years of COVID have brought trials and tribulations, but there have also been some silver linings. One such silver lining would be the new ice rinks back for another winter. Assuming that central Minnesota is not breaking record lows, it is easy to see that the rinks, installed in 2020, are both enjoyed and used by students.

There are currently four skating rinks available for students to use on- campus. There are three at St. John’s, located at the Tundra, Flynntown/Stumpf Lake and Lake Sagatagan. There is also one rink at St. Ben’s, located on the CSB Mall.

“Last year during COVID it was a nice way to hang out with friends. It was an outdoor activity that pretty much anyone could do,” said Gabi Lott, a frequent user of the CSB Mall rink.

From hockey players to figure skaters to people who are skating for the first time, the rinks offer an opportunity for students to enjoy a fun and relatively COVID-safe outdoor environment.

While the ice rinks were promoted and funded by a variety of people and organizations on campus, the idea for the Tundra ice rink was largely promoted by the St. John’s Student Senate. Connor Kockler, president of the SJS, described the idea for these rinks.

“We decided to promote the Tundra rink because we wanted to create more activities for students to do during these winter months,” he said.

In addition, the Tundra rink was in an accessible location for students.

“These combinations of factors made us really excited about getting a rink for the Tundra,” he said.

However, many of the costs associated with the rink, such as the initial purchase and labor costs, were significant. Last academic year, the SJU Senate contributed approximately $10,000 towards the purchase and operation of the rink. This year, the President’s Office and Student Development at St. John’s also contributed funding towards the rink, with the student Senate contributing $3,520. These are by no means inexpensive projects, yet the administration clearly thought that further investment in the rinks would be worthwhile.

For the colleges’ administration, the rinks were both a recreational project and a method to reduce the spread of COVID-19.

“We were looking for events that we could do during COVID. We knew winter was coming, and we wanted something that would be fun, uplifting, and community- oriented,” said Mary Geller, vice president of student development at CSB.

This winter these goals of providing a safe, recreational opportunity for students are still relevant and applicable with the recent surge of the COVID-19 Omicron variant.

Those who use the CSB Mall rink will be glad to see the new warming house, especially on cold winter days. With the new rinks, there have been many more students looking for skates to rent or use. Molly Bartek-Miller, co-manager of the Outdoor Leadership Center (OLC) has noticed significant changes to the number of skate rentals.

“We have way more students who are coming in because of the ice rinks. Even if people come in for the ice skates, they [tend to] rent out even more gear [that is unrelated to skating],” Bartek-Miller said.

For many students, it will be the first time they visit or even learn about the OLC. These ice rinks not only encourage students to spend more time on the rink but also to spend more time in the greater outdoors.

To rent skates, students can visit the OLC, which is located on the lower level of Mary Hall at SJU, or they can go to the lower level of the Haehn Campus Center, which is located at CSB. These rentals are at no cost to students.