A time capsule from 1991 was opened Oct. 6, 2020 at the Community College of Aurora. The capsule had a variety of items inside including a VHS tape, a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle action figure and a variety of CCA related paper work from 1991. Photo by PHILIP B. POSTON/Sentinel Colorado 
Larry Steele pulls out a black bag from a time capsule that was buried in 1991, Oct. 6, 2020, at the Community College of Aurora. Steele was the facilities manager at CCA when the capsule was buried. Photo by PHILIP B. POSTON/Sentinel Colorado 
Larry Steele holds up a VHS tape, pulled from a time capsule that was buried in 1991, Oct. 6, 2020, at the Community College of Aurora. Steele was the facilities manager at CCA when the capsule was buried. Photo by PHILIP B. POSTON/Sentinel Colorado 
A time capsule from 1991 was opened Oct. 6, 2020 at the Community College of Aurora. The capsule had a variety of items inside including a VHS tape and a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle action figure. Photo by PHILIP B. POSTON/Sentinel Colorado 
Mike Pichay, left, and Laura Longmire, examine a VHS tape that was buried in a time capsule in 1991, Oct. 6, 2020, at the Community College of Aurora. Photo by PHILIP B. POSTON/Sentinel Colorado
AURORA | A mask. A bottle of hand sanitizer. A Baby Yoda figurine. A fact sheet of information about Elijah McClain, accompanied by a miniature violin.
Those were some of the objects that the Community College of Aurora chose to represent 2020 for a time capsule that will be opened 30 years from now. The capsule will replace one from 1991, which was opened this week after 29 years.
The time capsule was the brainchild of then-college president Larry Carter. Installed on July 11, 1991, the contents were put in place in the ground outside the college’s classroom building, under a plaque instructing “to be opened in 2020.” Little did anyone know at the time what kind of year that would turn out to be.
Carter currently lives in Hawaii and was not able to make it to the ceremony, but a number of retired faculty who helped install the time capsule were present Tuesday for a ceremony that was also livestreamed on Facebook.
Retired facilities manager Larry Steele, who helped create the capsule, did the honors of unveiling the contents. (The concrete seal, which took quite a bit of work to crack, was opened in advance by college facilities staff.)
The items from 1991 included a VHS tape with information about the college, a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles figurine, a plaque from the first graduating class in 1981, a graduation tassel, a copy of the college’s old student newspaper, the Highline Chronicle, and several print class schedules.
In 1991 the college was only about a decade old and had a fraction of the population it does now. History instructors Paul Langston and Brandon Williams provided some context for what life was like in 1991 and how things have changed over the subsequent 29 years.
In 1991, the first Gulf War ended and the Soviet Union dissolved, Langston said. In South Africa, Nelson Mandela became president of the African National Congress after being released from prison for fighting apartheid. In Los Angeles, Rodney King was beaten by LAPD officers, an assault that sparked mass protests and riots the following year when none of the officers were charged.
The New York Giants won the World Series, The Silence of the Lambs and Beauty and the Beast came out in theaters, and Cheers and The Fresh Prince of Bel Air were on TV.
The events that took place between 1991 and 2020 show us that “things indeed change but they also stay the same,” Williams said.
The fall of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War ushered in a new era of peace, but under Vladimir Putin Russian aggression is again on the rise. The terrorist attacks of 9/11 led to the war in Afghanistan, which has been underway for 19 of the 29 years the time capsule has been buried.
And just as people took to the streets after the Rodney King verdict, the deaths of George Floyd and Elijah McClain led to sweeping protests against police brutality.
Though it’s easy to be discouraged by how little things have changed in some ways, it’s important to remember that the path towards racial equality is not linear, Williams said.
And despite the current chaos, the past three decades have created monumental changes as well, such as the election of Barack Obama, nationwide legalization of gay marriage and the rise of social media.
“It may not feel like it, but this is the most peaceful century in human existence,” Williams said.
After the capsule was opened, HR director Cindy Hesse displayed the items that will be placed in the new time capsule, which will be opened in 2050. Community members were asked to weigh in on what should be put in the capsule to represent 2020, with masks being the overwhelming top choice.
A CCA-branded mask along with hand sanitizer will be placed in, along with printouts of emails from college president Betsy Oudenhoven during the beginning of the pandemic when things were changing day-to-day.
“Clorox wipes are too valuable,” Hesse joked, saying the college couldn’t spare any for the future.
Other materials include the previous Sunday’s edition of the Denver Post, the book Tell Me How it Ends by Valeria Luiselli, a pride flag, a CCA T-shirt, and a fact sheet about the college and information about its inclusive excellence plan. If there is room, an iPad will also be included to represent the technology of the day.
Opening the time capsule brought back a lot of memories for Steele, who said that though the college’s programming and enrollment have changed dramatically the campus still looks very similar. One thing that’s changed are the campus’ trees, which are much bigger than they were in the early 90s.
“This place has a lot of meaning for me,” he said.