By Katie Hirv ’22

For countless Wartburg students and alumni, Wartburg has left its mark on them in some way. For Jared McLey ’22 and Addy Kaune ’23, they chose to make those marks permanent by getting tattoos related to the Wartburg Chapel.

McLey, a religion major with a concentration in youth and family ministry, took inspiration from several places that have significant meaning to him. Growing up in Waverly, Jared attended St. Paul Lutheran Church and also worked summers at Camp EWALU in Strawberry Point, both of which were influential in Jared’s tattoo design.

“It’s a hybrid of my home church at St. Paul’s and the chapel we have at camp. It also says ‘sanctuary’ across it. I go to Sanctuary on Wednesday nights here on campus and I’m on the student-led committee for it. It’s a big part of Wartburg for me,” said McLey. “Pastor Brian was giving a benediction at the sending one night, and he said, ‘Go and be a sanctuary for all you meet.’ The sanctuary is where people associate God to be, so it really got me thinking about how sanctuaries are safe places. “I’m a youth director and do a lot of work with kids, so it’s really important to me to be a safe person for kids to be around and make them feel welcome wherever they’re at, whether it’s my youth group or the Scout group I work with. Kids need to know they can be themselves around you,” he said.

For Kaune, a history and political science double major, her tattoo was influenced by a social media post created by Dr. Daniel Black, professor of physical science and engineering science at Wartburg. His post was a photo of the Wartburg Chapel lit up at night and was created a few days after students were sent home in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The caption read: “Stay safe, Wartburg students. We’ll leave the light on for when you come back.” Addy’s tattoo displays the geographical coordinates of the Wartburg Chapel.

“Right before we left for quarantine, I had just come back from New York for a choir trip. I was really sick when I got back, so I didn’t really get to experience that last week of classes, which was really upsetting for me,” said Kaune.

“I’m friends with Dr. Daniel Black on Facebook and saw his post with the chapel. It showed me that Wartburg is always going to be a home for me, no matter where I go or what I do. I can always come back and it will still be Wartburg for me. It was nice to see that the staff not only cares about the students, but they want students to feel at home as well,” she said.