Dave Baker, new student seminar leader and general manager of KALA radio at St. Ambrose University in Davenport, shows his students around Christ the King Chapel Sept. 8.
By Anne Marie Amacher
The Catholic Messenger
DAVENPORT — Back in 2017, Tammy Norcross-Reitzler created a chapel tour “scavenger hunt” for her new student seminar class at St. Ambrose University. Since then, the director of campus ministry has updated it and shared with other new student seminar leaders.
“I wanted an interactive way for students to learn about the artwork, sacred furnishings and stained glass windows in Christ the King Chapel. Years ago when I was the director of lifelong faith formation in Newton, I did a similar hunt for the first Communion class and their parents. I remember that the parents really enjoyed it and learned a lot too. So I figured the college students would find it interesting.”
She adapted the “Chapel Tour Guide” pamphlet designed by Chris Mandle to design a scavenger hunt of symbols and items located in the chapel. A sentence with clues and answers are available for all instructors of the new student seminar class. The tour allows instructors to connect the freshmen with St. Ambrose’s Catholic identity and mission, Norcross-Reitzler said. All freshmen and some transfer students take the new student seminar class, which meets weekly for a semester. It is taught by various staff on campus.
This year, Dave Baker, general manager of KALA radio on the St. Ambrose campus, chose to take his group of 17 students on the chapel tour. While the university offers a variety of tour options for new student seminar students, “this is a unique option I have not done before.”
As he guided his students into the chapel from the gathering space, he explained that the chapel, built in 1953, had been reoriented during a renovation nearly 20 years ago. At the time the chapel was built, Cosgrove Hall, Rohlman Hall, Lee Lohman arena and Galvin Fine Arts Center did not exist. The campus consisted of Lewis Hall with the LeClaire gym, Davis Hall, McMullen Hall and Ambrose Hall.
“We are here to learn,” Baker told his students. Catholic or not, they are more than welcome to visit, study, journal or pray in the chapel or gathering space, he said.
Students try to find 15 symbols or items on the tour. Baker accompanied the students as a group instead of having each student search separately for listed items. Some of the highlight items: the art of the late Father Edward Catich, a St. Ambrose College alumnus who later taught at the college and founded its art department. His calligraphy, slates and more appear in sacred and secular places around the world. Christ the King Chapel contains some of his slates, Stations of the Cross and “Theophora,” a painting that depicts Mary as darker-skinned and holding a Black infant Jesus. “It was pretty controversial” when it was displayed in 1949, Baker said.
Another item is a wood statue of St. Ambrose of Milan that the former Marycrest College in Davenport presented to St. Ambrose College in 1957. A wall displays photos of Pacem in Terris Peace and Freedom Award recipients. Baker asked the students to find some notable people whose names they knew such as Martin Luther King Jr. and Mother (now St.) Teresa of Kolkata.
Baker asked the students to find the stained glass window dedicated to St. Ambrose, a doctor of the Church who also influenced its liturgy and music. The students viewed symbols for the university such as bees and a hive.
