Meet The RIRA Youth Roosevelt Island Time Capsule Monument Project Team - Plan To Capture The Past, Present & Future Possibilities Of Roosevelt Island

Reported last October 17:

Roosevelt Island resident Mark Shinozaki presented his idea of creating a Roosevelt Island Time Capsule to the Roosevelt Island Residents Association (RIRA) October 4 Common Council during it's Public Session. Mr. Shinozaki was assisted in the presentation by RIRA's Children, Youth and Education (CY&E) Committee Chair Adib Mansour....

Mr Mansour updates us on the status of the Roosevelt Island Time Capsule project. According to Mr. Mansour:

We are pleased to announce the formation of the new leadership Time Capsule team. This is an important leadership project which will result in community service as well as possible classroom credit.

The Time Capsule project is meant to capture the past, present, and endless future possibilities of Roosevelt Island. The process will include taking snapshots of various locations on the island, collect historic images, interview a multitude of people, making sure we include all aspects of the island. I will be working with the team to create a series of competitions for the Elementary students to draw a futuristic map of Roosevelt Island as they see it in the future, essays on future technologies and how it would help the island residents by Middle School students, and ideal future as seen by High School students and young adults.

The monument hosting the time capsule will be opened in 2042, replenished and re-opened in 2067.

I am thrilled to be working with the Time Capsule team and guide them through the entire process in cooperation with RIOC and RIRA.

The Roosevelt Island Time Capsule Leadership team members are:

Mark Strong-Shinozaki, I’m 16 years old, I’m energetic, athletic and have lived in New York City for the full extent of those 16 years. I attend School of the Future High School, where I am currently a junior, the school is located on the lower east side of Manhattan and I tend to immerse myself into different cultures and ways of thinking on a daily basis.

I love Roosevelt Island because, living in a community that feels so drawn from arguably the most chaotic city in the world, to me, is a luxury that I’ve been privileged with. From experience in traveling to different parts of the world I’ve come to realize that Roosevelt island's beauty is one to be admired and an island that ought to have more attention towards its history and beauty. Roosevelt island's history is one of insane asylums, small pox hospitals and was a place not originally meant for people to live on, but as the city of New York started to see what this rock was truly meant for, in that moment, they understood the potential for development and an excluded community.

The reason why I want to commemorate the island with a time capsule is with so many changes In my life and changes currently happening on the Island, I sought that having a time capsule would be an official way to record all the great people living on Roosevelt island. I firmly believe what Roosevelt islanders write and put into the time capsule will not only show the history of changes on the island, but show the ideas and wisdom of such inspirational people.

Lastly, I came up with the idea of the Time Capsule project because, in our society if an idea or concept is admired for originality and beauty, it’s recorded about talked about in music and documentaries. But considering this time capsule is meant to represent the uniqueness and beauty of an Island, it’s crucial to record that and make it prove the test of time.

Francine Elisaia. I am 16 years old and am from beautiful Samoa. For 14 years of my life, Roosevelt Island has been home for me despite me not coming from New York, or let alone the United States. Before moving to America, my parents knew that they wanted to avoid moving somewhere that would be in the hustle and chaos of the city, but somewhere that was safe and that would accommodate to a family coming from overseas with young children. I’ve come to love this small island that has provided so many opportunities to mingle with other “islanders”, for example, the many sports that RIYP offered to the island’s children for free or the big screenings of some of our favorite films at the Firefighter Field, and now this youth group!

As of lately, I have stopped joining the sports programs and have not been to the movie screenings due to increased school work. But, in doing so I have not been able to further explore the island and all its treasures and I do not have as much time as I used to have to hang out with other students my age. I was approached by Mark to possibly join this group, and I thought what better way to solve my problems of not hanging out with kids my age and not spending enough time outside my apartment venturing out into what the island has to offer, so I signed up for the group and am glad I did. It’s great to see other kids around my age undertake a project like this that builds social interactions, provides a platform for the youth to lead and gives time for us to indulge in Roosevelt Island and all its glory.

The idea of the Time Capsule and creating something that will preserve so many of the island’s valuables is an amazing way to celebrate what the island is. In the time capsule, there will be items ranging from audio/video recordings of interviews with people who have contributed significantly to making Roosevelt Island what it is, there will also be artifacts that we students will find ourselves as well as other beautiful gems that other people would want to add to the time capsule, but, something that I think would make the time capsule all the more special would be a “yearbook”. In the yearbook will be pictures of the things we will be doing, and a group picture of the participating students. It’s a great way to reflect and see the different things we will do, and, in 25 years we might come back for a reunion and the yearbook would serve as just a small testimony to the great work a group made up of youth, along with Adib Mansour, did to safeguard a few things that made Roosevelt Island so special.

Bryan Cusick. I am 13 years old. I love sports and burgers.

I love Roosevelt Island for many reasons. For one, it is where I have lived all my life, where I’ve met so many amazing people and it has been a great place for me to do things I love. First off, it is an amazing community and Is extremely welcoming. My favorite part about growing up on this Island is Baseball. Roosevelt Island loves baseball and the baseball league is great! Over the years there have been so many great games you would think that Major League Players are out there. The coaches are fantastic and everyone is so supportive and nice. I want to find a way to commemorate the RI baseball in the Time Capsule. Maybe with pictures or maybe even game used equipment and jerseys. overall, The baseball on the island is without a doubt what I love most and it’s what i want future Roosevelt Islanders to know about the 2010’s on RI.

Dylan Marfey. I am 13 years old.

For all my life, Roosevelt Island has been my home. Growing up on Roosevelt Island will be, without a doubt one of the greatest parts of my life. Living on Roosevelt Island is like living inside of a park, everyone is packed together, and because of this Roosevelt Island has its own small community. This special community allows people to integrate, building new friendships and bonds.

The Roosevelt Island time capsule will be a great way to capture what Roosevelt Island and its community are today and preserve it. Roosevelt Island is constantly changing, for example, the new ferry which was recently installed. The main idea of the time capsule is to preserve the current state of Roosevelt Island for future generations. Lots of things have changed on Roosevelt Island and what is now gone has been forgotten. By making this time capsule we will be keeping the memory of what Roosevelt Island is today, alive for the future.

In the Roosevelt Island time capsule, I would like to include photographs of places such as different buildings, sports fields, and empty spaces of the Island. These photos can show future generations exactly what Roosevelt Island looked like, and maybe they could create a before and after of Roosevelt Island.

Nat Gillespie.  I am 13 years old.

When I moved to Roosevelt Island in 2015 I had previously been living in a small town called Athens, Ohio. In this town I was able to roam free with my friends on my bike not having to worry about crowded subways or huge buildings. Not only did I have a great and unique relationship with everyone that I knew, but I also loved Athens and understood what it meant to me as a whole.

Today I am still on Roosevelt Island and I love it to a great extent. I had an amazing transition between Athens and New York City because Roosevelt Island is so similar to Athens. Like Athens I have the freedom to be by myself outside but a new addition is the community here. On RI everyone is friendly and there are organized programs that help me and many others to express and explore their interests.

I think that this project will not only be a great experience but also will help me to establish the same relationship I had with Athens with RI. Even though I love RI, I would like to do this project to help me to better understand RI and for me to understand other people’s opinions on it. I am very excited to be working with other kids and Adib on this project and delighted to explore RI and better understand it as a whole.

Good luck with the project. Great idea!

UPDATE 12/7 - Mr. Mansour introduced the Roosevelt Island Time Capsule Leadership Team during last evening's RIRA Common Council meeting Public Session.

The leadership team members each described the reasons they are participating in the Time Capsule Project and their love of Roosevelt Island. Watch the video. These young people are very impressive.