As the end of semester approaches, Student of the Centennial get ready for The Centennial Time Capsule Showcase to take place at 1:30 p.m. on Dec. 3 at the Centennial Museum.
It all started in the classroom. A group of students in a communication class presented a project so good it was necessary to make bigger. It went from a small class group to involving the whole campus. According to Yolanda Tiemann, junior organization and corporative communication major and President of the UTEP Student Time Capsule Project, said that the main idea of doing a time capsule was to show the changes that UTEP has gone under.
Departments were encouraged to turn in any relevant information about their college to the Centennial Office located in room 403 of the Administration Building. All of the artifacts will be included in the time capsule which is set to be buried once the centennial plaza is finished in the spring semester.
“When they approached the Centennial Office showing us their project, we felt very excited because it was a Time Capsule from the student perspective,” said Maribel Villalva, Director of the Centennial Museum. “It gives them the extra satisfaction they are doing this for UTEP in their Centennial Celebration. We help them publicizing this project, guiding them, but most importantly we are helping them to achieve their goals.”
In order to engage students and make them aware of this organization and its mission, the Students of Centennial started doing campaigns around campus. The most recent was “Capture a Burro” where they placed a burro in different buildings and came up with weekly riddles that hinted participating students of where the burro was located in campus. Riddles were able to get originated thanks to the help of the Centennial Office that allowed for Students of the Centennial to use the UTEP Encyclopedia.
“It was great because the Burro was our past mascot and it was great opportunity to show the students some historical facts about UTEP,” Tiemann said.
Initially, the Time Capsule was set to be buried for 100 years, but Tiemann thought it would be better that all the people that contributed to this project would be able to come back and participate unburying it. That’s why this Time Capsule will reveal its content 25 years from now.
“This is going to be better because most of us would still be involved with the Time Capsule and would actually see how we were, how much we changed,” said Tiemann.
According to Maribel Villalva, this would be a great opportunity not only to see how many important –and historical – items have been collected, but also for faculty, staff and students to see the changes that will take place with time.
“I believe that the time capsule project has a lot of meaning, since it is an opportunity for all of us as students to feel proud of being Miners,” junior media advertising major Abigail Romero said. “I also believe that this centennial celebration and this event in particular is a great way to join together as a community. It is about being thankful to be part of this beautiful university and to contribute to a very important time in UTEP history.”
Food and prizes will be given throughout the event. For more information stay posted to the Facebook page Facebook.com/centennialtimecapsule.
Gianfranco Languasco may be reached at [email protected].
