The University YMCA installed two time capsules on Thursday that are set to be reopened in 2073 during its 200th anniversary.
They announced the plan in a press release in March 2024. The two main capsules are distinct from one another, with one dedicated to the 15 RSOs that the YMCA houses, and the other representing the University’s latest achievements.
This event comes after the YMCA sealed both capsules in May. The YMCA’s student organizations wrote on notecards, signed their names and included photos along with smaller time capsules to add into the main capsule.
Before the time capsules were placed outside the YMCA, it held its board meeting where it elected several new members to its Boards of Governors and Trustees.
Tom Seals is a member of the University YMCA’s Board of Trustees who has been involved with the organization since 1977, when he was a graduate student at the University. He said the importance of its work over the years is greatly represented in the time capsules.
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“There’s been a consistent theme of work in environmental and social justice and subsequent interfaith work, and the Y’s had a long history of being involved in those things,” said Seals. “The Y’s mission is to incubate good ideas about student life, and the time capsules represent the state of these programs with the current leadership blossoming this even further.”
Seals wasn’t the only person there who saw the importance of the time capsules. Mymy Gnahoré, an Immigrant Family Services case worker at the New American Welcome Center, hopes it lets future generations know the NAWC is here to help students.
“That’s our DNA and mission,” Gnahoré said. “We try our best in this, with everything happening in the country, to welcome people and help them realize their dream, thrive and flourish.”
Jim Hinterlong, the executive director of the YMCA, told The Daily Illini they spent a year and a half setting up the installation of the capsules. Previously, the YMCA unveiled the contents of the now-demolished Illini Hall’s time capsule for its 150th anniversary in 2023. Hinterlong said that motivated the YMCA to create new capsules, highlighting the present day.
The planning included gathering items representing the trials and triumphs of the University in the past few years while researching Library of Congress and Smithsonian recommendations on how to preserve the materials in the time capsules.
In an email, Hinterlong gave The DI a full list of items inside the time capsule. Notable items include a letter former Chancellor Robert Jones wrote before departing the University in June, a recording of several people talking about their experiences at the YMCA and a 150th Anniversary Proclamation from the cities of Champaign and Urbana.
As for how he perceives future generations will see the time capsules, Hinterlong thinks they will see how far the YMCA has come over the years.
“Having the time capsules here is a font of hope,” Hinterlong said. “Every time I see and think of them, it reminds me that past generations have been through great distress and prosperity. By putting that in a vault, it’s a beacon of hope for people to believe that not only can things be better today, but through the legacy we create today, they’ll be a better tomorrow.”
