An unusual reunion took place recently at one of Webster’s schools. Students of Deborah Feasel’s second grade class from 10 years ago recently gathered together once more to open the time capsule they created at the turn of the millennium. Miss Feasel informed the former Plank Road South Elementary School students, most of who are now seniors at Webster Schroeder High School, that she had stored the capsule on a shelf in front of her treadmill in her basement. “Every time I would get on the treadmill, I would look at it and think, ‘OK, I have to contact them in nine years. OK, I have to contact them in eight years …'"Until this was the year.
A decade ago the students, who had all signed their names to the capsule, had written on it specific instructions: “This time capsule was created by Miss Feasel’s second grade class at the beginning of the new millennium: January 2000. Don’t open until the future.”
Well, the future is now. Eight of her 17 students (several of whom have moved out of the district) returned to take a peek into their past.
Inside the cardboard box that had served as a capsule for the past decade they found individual coffee cans decorated and labeled with each of their names. In them were items they had placed as 7 and 8-year-olds. All contained a letter from Miss Feasel, a class photo, and a worksheet entitled “The Best of Me” in which they wrote their favorite things about themselves. And then there were more personal items reflecting the times: Beanie Babies, coins from 2000, family photos, a homemade pinch pot made in art class, a paper football, a school lunch menu, a letter to Mom, a tooth, a Woody doll, Pokemon cards, pictures of stars of the time such as the Backstreet Boys and Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen, and a whole flood of memories.
A few of the students had remembered what was contained inside their cylinders, but most had forgotten. As they pulled each item out, an emotion followed, often laughter or quiet reflection.