Student Senate approves new club

Photo credit: Kayla Korb

By Nora Betts

The Student Senate on Tuesday voted to give official club status to Concordia University Nebraska’s chapter of The National Association for Music Education, which club representatives said offers music opportunities and resources for music education students, student musicians and the campus as a whole.

Junior Samuel Dunbar said NAfME aims to be a “collaborative community that supports music educators and advocates for equitable access to music education.” He said the club focuses chiefly on students majoring in Music Education or Church Music.

Sophomore Grace Donnelly said NAfME provides resources for students who plan to enter music education careers.

“Our first priority is the future music educators on this campus,” said Donnelly. “We want to provide valuable and relevant resources for them that they can use to be successful future teachers and have good experiences in this community.”

Donnelly also said the club plans to connect with music students as a whole through events like mock recitals and faculty appreciation events.

Donnelly said NAfME also wants to connect the general campus community through “fun events” like the Un-Recital, hosted annually during Dead Week of the spring semester. The 2023 Un-Recital had musical performances, skits, and comedy routines performed by students as a stress-busting event before finals week.

She said that events like the Un-Recital allow any student to showcase their musical talents.

“It’s also really important to serve our entire campus,” said Donnelly. “We want to promote music activities that the whole campus can come and do because, even if you’re not a music major, even if you’re not in an ensemble, there are so many people on campus with musical talents and they want to get involved.”

The club currently has around 13 attendees at each biweekly meeting, Dunbar said. He said he expects NAfME attendance to increase as the club hosts more meetings and activities.

Donnelly said that since NAfME is a national organization, the club allows its members to connect with future music educators at other colleges in the area, in Nebraska and across the country.

The Senate voted unanimously to make the Concordia chapter of NAfME an official, Senate-sponsored club.