When Brian Kirschner heard of an ice rink closing behind Muncie's Horizon Convention Center, an idea struck him: have Ball State University purchase it.
Kirschner, a senior construction management major, said he heard about the closed rink from a friend, who works at the Muncie Children's Museum across the street. The rink originally shut down two years ago after a bad storm.
"She said she'd be getting around two phone calls a day from Muncie residents, asking if the rink was open," Kirschner said.
After doing research, Kirschner said the cost of purchasing the rink would be about $200,000, which includes the rink, skates, zamboni, Trane chiller unit, chiller lines, batter boards and skate sharpener. The estimate did not include additional expenses, such as water to fill the rink or relocation, Kirschner said.
"It would be a way to get the Ball State community and Muncie community involved with one another," he said. "It would also provide opportunities for a fun and alcohol-free environment."
Kirschner and junior telecommunications major Hayden Little and Wes Padgett, freshman environmental research and management major, met with Vice President of Student Affairs Kay Bales Wednesday to propose his idea.
"If [consideration] is all we get, I'll be happy with that," Kirschner said.
Bales seemed interested in the proposal and supportive of the idea and asked a lot of questions, Kirschner said.
"I think the students did a good job with researching this," Bales said. "I need to talk to other people on campus about this, and the students agreed to solicit more information on whether students would use the rink."
Kirschner said he had an idea to move the rink to campus. He suggested putting the rink in the field next to the North Grounds Building, or in the wooded area of LaFollette Field. Another idea was to cover the rink, Kirschner said, a suggestion made when John Burley, from Everything Ice, an ice rink products company, worked on it.
"Covering the rink will help considerably to reduce the cost of operation and provide more reliable programming because your operation would not be the victim of the weather," Burley said.
In three or four weeks the three will meet with Bales again to discuss the idea.
Kirschner said the battle to convince the university to purchase the rink will be worth it.
"When I come back to Ball State, I'll see that and say, 'Look, I did that. I did my share and returned a favor to them,'" he said.
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