Concordia University, Nebraska

Concordia Nebraska's theatre department will perform "WhoDunit...and to Whom?" as their spring mainstage play on March 28 and 29 at 7 p.m. and March 30 at 2 p.m. All performances will take place in the Black Box Theatre in the Borland Center for Music and Theatre on campus. The play was originally written by professional writer and actor Robert Frankel, who has published over 30 works in his lifetime.

Concordia University, Nebraska has awarded the university's President's Scholarship to 25 students for the 2024-2025 school year. The scholarship acknowledges freshmen with excellent academic performance, notable extracurricular involvement and high test score achievements. "While Concordia Nebraska is honored to have faculty and staff who are devoted to Christ-centered excellence, it is the students who play a central role in maintaining such a legacy," said Concordia University, Nebraska President Dr. Bernard Bull. "President's Scholarship recipients exemplify a commitment to excellence and, in doing so, promote a Christ-centered academic community that embraces a relentless pursuit of excellence, truth, beauty, goodness and using their gifts to be a future blessing to their families, churches, communities, and workplaces."

Four Concordia Nebraska students - Gracie Flamig, Mackenzie Houser, Megan Eurich and Yaire Ojeda - were recently inducted into Alpha Phi Sigma, the national criminal justice society. Concordia Nebraska's chapter of this society is called Pi Epsilon Eta and requires students to hold a minimum 3.2 grade point average overall and in four criminal justice courses.

Senior Joseph Kahrs of Franklin, Nebraska, is majoring in agricultural science and plays football for the Concordia Nebraska Bulldogs. He said he chose to attend the university because it offered him the opportunity to focus on the two things he loves - football and agricultural science - while studying at a university that offers a Lutheran, Christian focus.

Concordia University, Nebraska sophomores Reagan Martens and Abigail Kollbaum are both currently serving on the executive leadership team for YouthLead, the youth organization of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod's Office of National Missions. For 40 years, YouthLead has equipped teens to develop and use their leadership skills to serve Christ in various capacities in their communities and congregations. The YouthLead executive team is elected for three-year terms by peers during Youth Leadership Training events. Martens, Kollbaum and four other teens were elected to this team by their peers at the 2022 event. Their duties as members include facilitating annual YouthLead events, becoming leaders in their own congregations and even helping with key aspects of the upcoming National Youth Gathering (NYG).

Concordia University, Nebraska recently named 249 students to its honors list for the Fall 2024 semester. Students who earn a 3.90 GPA or higher while also completing at least 12 credit hours during the semester qualify for this list.

Concordia University, Nebraska's speech and debate teams have enjoyed a remarkable fall semester, achieving significant milestones and showcasing exceptional talent across competitions. Under the guidance of head coach Malia Frerking and graduate assistant Angelina Stinson the team consistently excelled, ranking high at tournaments and achieving both team and individual successes. This semester, the debate team stood out with impressive rankings at multiple tournaments, including securing 2nd and 3rd place overall finishes. Freshman Jacy Jackson, freshman Aidan McKinnon and junior Brynn Holtmeier all qualified to nationals. At a recent tournament, every pairing on the team achieved a winning record, with three out of four teams advancing to the quarterfinal bracket. The duo of sophomore Thomas McKinnon and Aidan McKinnon had an extraordinary semester, losing only one debate round across multiple tournaments and claiming first place at the prestigious Vocal Viking tournament in Mankato, Minnesota, in November. On the speech side, the team saw four members qualify for nationals: senior Madelyn Graham, junior Esther Molina, junior Alayna Laughridge and freshman Alyvia Hardy. Seven additional team members are just one bid away from qualifying. Notably, Molina achieved double first-place bids, a rare accomplishment, while Graham has reached finals at every tournament she's entered this year. The freshmen have also made their mark, with every first-year competitor advancing to at least one final round in their events.

Concordia's programming team recently competed in the International Collegiate Programming Contest regional competition. Two teams from the University of Nebraska - Lincoln joined six from Concordia to compete on November 9. These teams were in competition against over 90 other teams in the North Central North America region. ICPC teams consist of three members each, who work to solve problems in an intense five-hour competition. The team who solves the most problems wins, with time-to-completion breaking ties. Teams compete in ICPC qualifying and regional contests, with the top teams advancing to continental championships and world finals. This year's North Central North America competition posed 12 problems to 93 college teams from Nebraska, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Ontario, Manitoba, Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota, Kansas and Michigan. The top four teams - each from a different school - in each region progress to the ICPC Nationals competition.

This Concordia University, Nebraska esports fall season was a rollercoaster of excitement and growth for the program's teams. "The League of Legends and Rocket League teams both battled hard in highly competitive brackets, finishing with identical 3-4 records, showcasing moments of brilliance and setting a foundation for future success," said Concordia Nebraska esports coach Ryan Hinds.

Concordia University, Nebraska recently announced its upcoming Student Senate leadership team, which will take over the governance of the club in the 2024-25 school year. Student Senate is Concordia's student government. The Senate is student-led and holds weekly meetings. Smaller committees devoted to areas of betterment across campus, such as recycling, community service and public relations, meet once every two weeks. Each main Student Senate meeting is open to the public; however, each dorm floor and club is asked to send a representative to these meetings. Each year, Student Senate takes on a variety of campus-focused projects, with the main project for the 2023-24 school year being the renovation of Concordia's outdoor chapel. They also play an integral role in the creation of yearly budgets for each of Concordia's approved clubs. The budget for the upcoming school year is created at the end of the prior semester.

On May 4, Concordia University, Nebraska awarded undergraduate and graduate degrees to more than 475 graduates. The class of 2024 was honored during an undergraduate and graduate commencement ceremony.

Concordia University, Nebraska honored graduating seniors who exhibited outstanding academic success during their time at the university during its annual Commencement Honors Dinner on May 3. Each year, academic departments may confer two or more awards, depending on the department's size and the number of students in a particular program. The basis for students' attainment of these awards is determined by each department; however, they must consider students' grade point averages, service to Concordia and service to the department.

Concordia Nebraska usually has about 45 resident assistants (RAs) each year in the university's 11 residence halls. Each residence hall coordinator (RC) oversees, helps support and supervises nine to 13 of those RAs as their primary role. Their secondary role is helping serve the residents directly. The RC role includes many tasks including providing spiritual leadership for RAs and residents in their buildings, supporting their group of RAs throughout the year, working with Student Life Office staff to help lead RA training and the annual staff renewal retreat, assisting the Student Life Office Staff in emergency or crisis support on campus and responding to other incidents that occur on evenings and weekends. For the 2024-2025 academic year, the university sought to hire for all four of the university's residence hall coordinator positions. After reviewing applications and reference forms from a number of applicants (all of who are current RAs), the university has announced that students Micah Henschen, Joshua Jurchen, Eliyah Moldenhauer and Abigail Niemeier will serve as university residence hall coordinators for the 2024-2025 academic year.

This May, several faculty and students went on a study and service-learning tour to Peru. The trip was led by Dr. Joel Helmer, Holly Helmer, and Dr. Brian Albright.

On Saturday, November 4, Concordia's programming team ended their competitive programming season with the North Central North America Regional. This regional contest is part of the International Collegiate Programming Competition (ICPC), where thousands of universities from around the world strive to solve as many programming problems as possible, as fast as possible.

Concordia University, Nebraska today announced that senior Emily Morse of Council Bluffs, Iowa, and senior Lexis Haney of Dwight, Nebraska have been named the 2023-2024 recipients of the Eunice Goldgrabe Health and Human Performance (HHP) Scholarship.

Concordia University, Nebraska recently named 223 students to its honors list for the Spring 2023 semester. Students who earn a 3.90 GPA or higher while also completing at least 12 credit hours qualify for the honors list.

On Thursday, April 13 and Saturday, April 15, Concordia's leadership teams participated in the national Collegiate Leadership Competition (CLC) via Zoom. The two teams - made up of 12 students total - each competed in three challenges on Thursday and three challenges on Saturday placing first and second in the competition.

Concordia University Nebraska's 11th annual Academic and Research Symposium provided students with an opportunity to showcase their achievements to the campus community on April 25th.