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WARREN -- A reunion of former Y-Teen members who took part in activities at the YWCAs of Warren and Youngstown included the opening of a time capsule buried 90 years ago.
The YWCA Mahoning Valley celebrated the history of the Y-Teens program and its participants during the weekend event.
Y-Teens was a program operated by the YWCA in Warren and Youngstown, and was a fixture in dozens of high schools in both Mahoning and Trumbull County for nearly a century.
Molly Toth, public relations and advocacy manager for the YWCA, said the history of the two YWCAs was celebrated following a recent merger, and a 1928 time capsule was opened and replaced with a newly dedicated one honoring the shared history of the Valley YWCAs.
Cheryl McArthur, chair of the YWCA board of directors, said the items from the 1928 time capsule were removed and replaced with items from 2018, which will be opened in the future.
Items placed in the capsule included newspapers, annual reports, photos and books.
"This will tell folks in 100 years what was going on at the YWCA in 2018," she said.
Shari Harrell, president of the Community Foundation of the Mahoning Valley, said when she was a Y-teen, there were separate community service groups in ninth to 12th grade for students from Warren G. Harding, Warren Western Reserve and John F. Kennedy High schools.
"It was different then with a club for each grade level. It was an opportunity to get together to discuss women's rights, racial justice and other important issues. We learned about leadership, organizational skills, planning and development, which would benefit us for the rest of our lives," Harrell said.
Leslie King of Warren said when she was a Y-Teen, the local high school students got together to plan various events, She said opening the time capsule had a personal connection as the Bible inside was from her great-great aunt, A. L. Phelps, the first president of the Warren YWCA.
McArthur said she was surprised with the good condition of the time capsule items considering they were 90 years old.
The time capsule was placed in the side of the YWCA building on Nov. 18. 1928. Inside were a charter member list, a membership list, and copies of the architect's plans of the building.
She said the YWCA started as a vision of a small group of women who worked to make reality from a dream 90 years ago.
"It has been 90 years … and the YWCA has changed greatly in that time as has the community. But service remains at the heart of what we do," McArthur said.
She said the new time capsule "carries the stories of this community and the proud, powerful women who have worked to make the dream of the YWCA a reality for over a hundred years."
bcoupland@tribtoday.com