CCRI student will return in 50 years to unearth time capsule

Posted 9/25/14

CCRI President Ray Di Pasquale called for a moment of silence yesterday afternoon.

It seemed only appropriate as more than 100 faculty members, students and friends of the college gathered around …

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CCRI student will return in 50 years to unearth time capsule

Posted

CCRI President Ray Di Pasquale called for a moment of silence yesterday afternoon.

It seemed only appropriate as more than 100 faculty members, students and friends of the college gathered around a shallow grave in front of the Knight Campus in Warwick.

But while the burial of a time capsule was a fitting commemoration of the college’s 50th anniversary, Di Pasquale was asking his audience to think how far the college has come and dream of how far it will go by the time the capsule is unearthed on Sept. 24, 2064. This was a planting, not a burial.

Memories and expectations were shared by some of those standing around the grave that will be filled with crushed stone and capped with cement block bearing a bronze plaque. No one, however, was more surprised to be called on than Chris Carlone.

Carlone, who graduated from Johnston High School last year, is a first-semester CCRI student. He’s finding the experience vastly different than high school. He can do what he likes and work as hard as he chooses. He’s staying on top of his studies.

Di Pasquale picked Carlone out of the crowd. He asked him what he is majoring in. Carlone didn’t know, he hasn’t decided yet.

“You can tell this was rehearsed,” Di Pasquale said to laughter.

Then came the tough question. Di Pasquale asked Carlone to share his thoughts on the meaning of the occasion.

Carolne looked to be lost for words at first. Then he overcame being thrust into the spotlight.

“Education is so important,” he said.

He went on to say the college’s history “says a lot about us as Rhode Island.”

Di Pasquale was delighted. “You’re our poster boy,” he told Carlone.

Sondra Pitts, a member of the first class at the college, called her two years at the college “two of the most important years of my life.”

She said the college gave her the chance of fulfilling her dream of becoming a teacher, adding that the institution will continue to change lives for the next 50 years and beyond.

The capsule, a black triangular box made of plastic and weighing no more than 10 pounds, is filled with a variety of items, but mostly paper, including a letter from Di Pasquale, a bumper sticker, lots of photographs and even a 1983 student ID card donated by Jack Safford. Other items include 50th anniversary keepsakes such as a key fob, pin, window logo and sunglasses.

With 64,000 CCRI alumni working and living in Rhode Island, Di Pasquale urged people to think of all the college has done to change the state. And he also asked that they imagine all the college can do in the years to come.

And noting that Carlone is now 19, Di Pasquale asked him to return in the year 2064 when the capsule and its contents are exhumed.

Asked what he thought of the experience after dropping a shovel full of dirt over the capsule, Carlone confessed, “actually, I’m shaking in my boots, and I’m not even wearing boots.”

And will he be back in 2064?

“I’m going to mark it on my calendar,” he said with a laugh.

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