The Holy Name University (HNU) opened its University Days celebration Wednesday with a Monument Groundbreaking at its Janssen Heights Campus.

Themed “Soaring High, Janssen Heights,” the SVD Fathers led the opening of the five-day festivity through a groundbreaking ceremony where a time capsule, which will preserve the institution’s memorabilia, was buried inside the campus.

Said time capsule would then be unearthed after 31 years, that is, in the year 2047, marking HNU’s centennial founding anniversary.

Gov. Edgar M. Chatto and Cong. Rene L. Relampagos of the First District were proud observers and participants of the commemorative event.

Both being alumni who have succeeded in public service, they were one with the whole SVD Community in preserving fond memories of the institution which will be shared by future generations, but more specifically, by Holynamians in the year 2047.

Gov. Chatto reminisced about his Loyalty Award for his fourteen Holynamian years; first, as a student, and later, as a faculty member.

Cong. Relampagos on his part, talked about his own student and faculty days in the University as well, named Divine Word College before, where he spent eight years of his life before he joined the “chaotic world of politics.”

Earlier, the governor received a letter request from Fr. Francisco T. Estepa, SVD, the institution’s President, for him to write a message addressed to his dear and beloved Alma Mater, which will form part of the memorabilia inside the buried time capsule.

Gov. Chatto personally composed his letter, listening hard to what both his Mind and his Heart had to say to fellow Holynamians in 2047.

Thus, in the letter, he admitted that he considers himself a true blue Holynamian and is proud to be one.

The governor mentioned in his speech the devotional book “The Purpose Driven Life” and its author Rick Warren who said that, “We are products of our past, but we don’t have to be prisoners of it.”

To this, he admitted that his past, present and future, were “honed by the Christian values and Catholic education that Divine Word College of Tagbilaran (DWC-T), now HNU, inculcated in me.”

Having spent six years in Elementary, four years in High School, three years in the College of Law and a year as a Faculty Member in the College of Commerce, has “made HNU a big part of where I am today.”

Comparing and likening the time capsule shrine to a tombstone as mentioned by Warren where the latter expressed his wish that the words “At Least He Tried” be carved on his, Gov. Chatto said that the designated place should be the spot where the HNU Falcon should rise, as “landmark and reminder of how much we gave to the past in order to deserve our future.”

University streets poles were also unveiled, named after the University’s core values which everyone should memorize, embrace, and make a part of oneself as part and true witness of the Holynamian character.

The positive changes that he helped shaped in the Boholano community where he lives with his family can be attributed, the governor admitted, to the trainings and experiences, both in and out of school.

“My passion to serve others has been nurtured through the years by the caring hands of DWC-T-HNU SVD Fathers, School Administrators, Faculty and Staff and fellow students,” he added with reverence.

With his “wife Pureza being a graduate as well of this prestigious institution, our child Trisha,” Gov. Chatto thanked everyone for “sharing with us the best of themselves in the HNU Family.”

Later in the celebration, HNU’s falcon-like mascot Falco, the first of its kind in Bohol, wowed the audience.

The commemorative event was aired live via HNU’s campus-ran and very own radio station, 106.9Fm, also the very first of its kind in the province. (JLV/PGBh/EDCOM)