Visiting the past: Lester Elementary School students open time capsule

Students and staff at Lester Elementary School traveled back to 1994 recently by opening a time capsule filled with photographs, letters, Happy Meal toys, VHS tapes and more.

The time capsule was created and inserted into a wall at the elementary school in June 1994, during a school construction project. Originally, students and staff were supposed to open the time capsule in the 2019-20 school year until COVID-19 forced them to get creative.

“Because we have so many protocols in place and because of COVID-19, we were unable to have the children there to at the opening of the time capsule, so we had to film it,” said Principal Carin Novak.

Videos of students’ predictions for what was going to be in the time capsule were posted online along with the actual opening of the capsule and what was inside. Student predictions ranged from chalk for chalkboards to pictures of Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls.

“The kids really enjoyed watching the video of their predictions from 20 to 25 years ago,” Meghan Beard, a third-grade teacher at Lester. “It’s a little hard for the kids to predict with the timing. They don’t have a concept of 20 to 25 years ago, they think it was so long ago.”

Student reactions to the opening of the time capsule varied. Some students were surprised, and others weren’t impressed, said Megan Winnecke, a fifth-grade teacher at Lester.

Winnecke was a student at Lester in 1994 and remembers participating in activities to put things in the time capsule.

“It was kind of fun to see the letter that I wrote about how I wanted to be a teacher when I grow up and that’s what I’m doing now in the same building. It was really cool,” Winnecke said.

Novak said students from 1994 at Lester have even reached out asking to see the letter they wrote for the time capsule.

“One gentleman became a teacher, and he is currently working in the Philippines,” Novak said. “I sent him his stuff and he was very excited to receive it.”

Students and staff will be placing contributions back into the time capsule over winter break, and the capsule will be opened again 25 years from now in 2045.

Novak said they’ve placed newspapers article regarding COVID-19 and the presidential election into the time capsule along with a yearbook and pictures of what the school looks like today.

“I just think it’s been kind of a fun activity in the middle of this crazy time with COVID-19, that the time capsule has been able to give people a little bit of a smile,” Novak said.