About a half-century from now, in 2067, a time capsule will be opened at Cambrian College.
Lab equipment from the 1960s, varsity athletic wear, old yearbooks and photos of the 1991 visit by Prince Charles to Cambrian are among the items college administrators of the future will find inside.
Created by a special committee of retirees, alumni, current faculty and staff in celebration of the college's 50th anniversary, the time capsule is located in a prominent area of Cambrian's main foyer.
“Today is sort of a mounting of a graduation from our first 50 years,” said Cambrian College president Bill Best at a March 2 press conference celebrating the project.
“Most of us won't actually see the unveiling of the time capsule, at least the ones of us with gray hair.”
A number of dignitaries were on hand, including Greater Sudbury Mayor Brian Bigger and Sudbury MPP and Ontario Energy Minister Glenn Thibeault, both Cambrian graduates themselves.
Ontario's college system is celebrating its 50th anniversary 2017-18. Cambrian was one of the province's first colleges, and held classes starting in September 1967 in the Sacred Heart College building on Notre Dame Avenue.
Classes were also held in North Bay and Sault Ste. Marie. Those campuses eventually became Canadore College and Sault College.
John Koski, formerly principal of the Northern Ontario Institute of Technology, was Cambrian's first president.
Cambrian College's Barrydowne Road campus — its current site — opened in 1972, but has since greatly expanded. Over the past 50 years, more than 50,000 people have graduated from Cambrian.
Best, who's the sixth president of Cambrian, said he can't help but wonder what his predecessor, Koski, would think of Cambrian College of 2018.
“I wonder what he would have thought of where we are today and what we're doing,” he said. “I wonder if he would have ever thought we would have 12 expansions of the current infrastructure at Cambrian College.”
While it's important to acknowledge the past, Best wants to focus on the future.
“We need to make sure we dominate this area code, and dominate the entire province and quite frankly become a destination college for the world,” he said.
Cambrian College Students' Administrative Council (SAC) president Marc Gagne shared with those gathered at the event how much Cambrian has meant to him.
He used to work at the on-campus Mr. Sub restaurant, and spending time with students and professors made him realize his potential, and he enrolled in college. Gagne is now a graduate of the college's child and youth worker program.
“In the early days, Cambrian had a motto — 'Responsibility with Excellence,'” he said. “I feel that this statement is as true today as it was 50 years ago. Here's to another 50 years, Cambrian.”
