With a little bit of heat, some elbow grease, and a lot of hunting and gathering, the 75th Anniversary Time Capsule is dedicated and almost ready to be closed for the next 25 years.
At the beginning of the academic year, librarian Mary Jordan started gathering items that would go into the time capsule, even though she had no idea what the final time capsule would look like, how big it would be, or where it would go.
Even though she still doesn’t know where it will go, Jordan definitely has the first two figured out.
“After we did some research looking at commercial time capsules, none of them really fit our needs. We decided to visit Chuck Haus, an instructor in Welding/Fabrication,” said Jordan. “Chuck gave the project the one of his students, Ryan [Hus]. The final product is absolutely amazing. It’s beautiful. The aluminum they chose catches the light and looks very special for this event.”
While Hus was busy bending and welding the time capsule, Jordan was busy hustling up pieces to put in the time capsule. Over the year, she encouraged students and employees alike to fill out predictions for the future, printed on bamboo paper that will keep better over time, with the questions:
“Something you think people will want to know about our current time 25 years from now:”
“A prediction of what SCTCC will be like in 25 years:”
(She is still accepting predictions; if you would like to fill one out, email Mary at mary.wilkins-jordan@sctcc.edu)
Additionally, event posters, giveaway items, historical pieces, college publications, documentations, and more went into her box of time capsule goodies.
Meanwhile, Hus was hard at work on the time capsule itself.
He didn’t realize it was such a high-profile piece at first, but once he did, he and instructor Haus started looking online at aluminum toolboxes to base the capsule off that. They drew of a quick plan and got to work.
First they cut out the diamond-plate aluminum, then bent up the sides. That was the most difficult part, according to Hus. As a perfectionist when it comes to his welding, even when it’s a little off it’s something he notices.
“I think one of the sides is maybe a little bit longer or a little shorter, but it looks great,” he said.
After it was as perfect as he could get the bending, he welded on the front, back, and bottom, and the cover is on hinges. That was when the Mechanical Design Engineering Technology students got involved.
The capsule needed something to indicate what it was, and Mechanical Design was able to etch a plaque. The design included SCTCC’s mission and vision, the 75th anniversary logo, and the date the capsule is to be opened: Sept. 1, 2048.
Once the capsule is ready to be closed, they will secure it shut by screwing the cover on.
“We're not going to weld it shut just because of the foam and all the paper inside. We wouldn't want it to start on fire,” Hus explained.
On April 23, Hus, Jordan, and several students, employees, and President Kloos gathered in the Library to dedicate the Time Capsule. It was a short program where Jordan explained what was going to go in the capsule, and Jordan was happy to finally be able to transfer the items off her shelf and into their final location.
President Kloos then said a few words about the changes that SCTCC has seen over the 26 years that she has been at the College, including significant growth in enrollment, becoming comprehensive and offering an AA degree, adding athletics, and expanding from one to five buildings.
The most important thing, though, is the community that SCTCC serves: the students. From the past and into the future, students remain the constant. Looking back at how the time capsule came to be, Jordan is thankful that the process happened the way it did and involved students, and Hus was happy to have been part of this high-profile project.
“It feels good to be a part of this anniversary. I didn’t expect to be at the big presentation or a part of this. It’s pretty cool,” he said.
When asked about the future of welding in 25 years, Hus thought it was going to be a lot more robotic, but “we’ll always need people. People will still want to work with their hands so it’s not not going away.”
Join SCTCC in 25 years on Sept. 1, 2048 for the opening of the time capsule!
