Time Capsule Eludes Washington STEM?Staff
June 13, 2017 at 7:19 p.m.
By Michael [email protected]
The envelope had “do not open until May 18, 2017” written on it.
Ray says he was tempted to open it sooner, but resisted the temptation and stayed true to the letter.
When the day came this year, he opened it to find a letter and directions to a time capsule. The time capsule was created by students in the fourth-grade gifted and talented program in 1987 with the intent of someone finding it 30 years later.
“We feel the artifacts we have enclosed in the capsule present our American culture and lifestyle in 1987… We feel it will be interesting for you to analyze our artifacts to try and determine how much American lifestyle has changed in 30 years,” it said.
After Washington posted the find on Facebook, the post soon garnered a lot of attention of many people commenting and offering to help.
The letter contained a hand-drawn map and instructions for future generations to find it.
On Monday, Ray with Bryan Lindquist, who helped make the time capsule, and Cindy Nash, a teacher, went out to see if they could find the capsule.
Nash is one of the few teachers at Warsaw Community Schools who was teaching in 1987. Nash taught the gifted and talented students at three schools during that time.
While Washington wasn’t one of her schools, she said all the teachers used the same process.
Serenade Food donated big plastic tubs for the students to collect things with. Students wrote their predictions about the future, put in baseball cards and other items.
Armed with a metal detector and measuring tape, Ray sought to find the capsule. Based on the instructions from the students, one is to walk 26 paces east from the administration building, then known as the CIMC building, then turn and go 10 paces south. Ray believes that based on the map, the students meant to go north.
“I think they got their directions backward,” he said.
Ray was unsuccessful in his search. He said due to all the renovations Washington has had over the years, the time capsule is now under a slab asphalt.
“I think it’s right under this parking lot,” he said.
For now, the Washington time capsule will remain hidden in the earth.
Nash said the best chances of finding of one of these capsules from 1987 is Leesburg Elementary,
Back in 1987, the gifted and talented program was mobile as the teachers would move from school to school to teach the class. Nash said she can’t remember if what schools she had did do a time capsule. 1987 is the only year she did the project, she said.
She is sure she did one at Leesburg and is pretty sure she did one at Lincoln.
“It would make sense that Leesburg, Washington and Lincoln are where we did the capsules,” she said.
She said she knows exactly where the Leesburg one is and will seek permission to dig it up at a later date.
Ray said Leesburg hasn’t changed very much over the years, and it's less likely that the capsule lies under new construction.
The Lincoln one would be harder to find as it’s probably under the new school, Ray said.
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The envelope had “do not open until May 18, 2017” written on it.
Ray says he was tempted to open it sooner, but resisted the temptation and stayed true to the letter.
When the day came this year, he opened it to find a letter and directions to a time capsule. The time capsule was created by students in the fourth-grade gifted and talented program in 1987 with the intent of someone finding it 30 years later.
“We feel the artifacts we have enclosed in the capsule present our American culture and lifestyle in 1987… We feel it will be interesting for you to analyze our artifacts to try and determine how much American lifestyle has changed in 30 years,” it said.
After Washington posted the find on Facebook, the post soon garnered a lot of attention of many people commenting and offering to help.
The letter contained a hand-drawn map and instructions for future generations to find it.
On Monday, Ray with Bryan Lindquist, who helped make the time capsule, and Cindy Nash, a teacher, went out to see if they could find the capsule.
Nash is one of the few teachers at Warsaw Community Schools who was teaching in 1987. Nash taught the gifted and talented students at three schools during that time.
While Washington wasn’t one of her schools, she said all the teachers used the same process.
Serenade Food donated big plastic tubs for the students to collect things with. Students wrote their predictions about the future, put in baseball cards and other items.
Armed with a metal detector and measuring tape, Ray sought to find the capsule. Based on the instructions from the students, one is to walk 26 paces east from the administration building, then known as the CIMC building, then turn and go 10 paces south. Ray believes that based on the map, the students meant to go north.
“I think they got their directions backward,” he said.
Ray was unsuccessful in his search. He said due to all the renovations Washington has had over the years, the time capsule is now under a slab asphalt.
“I think it’s right under this parking lot,” he said.
For now, the Washington time capsule will remain hidden in the earth.
Nash said the best chances of finding of one of these capsules from 1987 is Leesburg Elementary,
Back in 1987, the gifted and talented program was mobile as the teachers would move from school to school to teach the class. Nash said she can’t remember if what schools she had did do a time capsule. 1987 is the only year she did the project, she said.
She is sure she did one at Leesburg and is pretty sure she did one at Lincoln.
“It would make sense that Leesburg, Washington and Lincoln are where we did the capsules,” she said.
She said she knows exactly where the Leesburg one is and will seek permission to dig it up at a later date.
Ray said Leesburg hasn’t changed very much over the years, and it's less likely that the capsule lies under new construction.
The Lincoln one would be harder to find as it’s probably under the new school, Ray said.
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