Five Gompers Junior High School students spent several months researching locations of possible time capsules that may be hidden at the school over the years. Under the direction of Gompers Special Education Teacher Chad Nelson, the seventh- and eighth-grade students, Alisson Gaitan Lopez, Evelyn Carrillo, Jocelyn Lopez, Isabella Salgado, and Isabella Campos, hard work paid off. The students watched in anticipation with Gompers Junior High School 1969 graduate and Joliet resident Larry Nielson, as the school district carpenters broke away cement from the wall behind a Samuel Gompers bronze plaque near the school office.
A copper time capsule was discovered that included letters from students, a Gompers yearbook, lunch menu, Gompers graduation program, City of Joliet bus map, school supplies, school calendar, and 8mm video and audio tapes.