Time Capsule tradition!
Memorabilia and predictions from the 2000-01 school year garnered many good memories and “remember when” conversations for those who attended the time capsule opening at Ranchero Elementary on September 24.
Principal Doug Cumming led the opening with the help from students and former student Tyler McGee, who also did a live feed of the event. Comments on the live feed page were very appreciative of this, since some people who wanted to be there were unable to make it. Others watched and recognized their school work as the items in the capsule were shared.
The first piece out of the capsule was a Ranchero tee-shirt from 2000. There were many goodies including class lists, projects, a Ranchero Elementary School mug and, what excited the students most, an original Pokémon card.
There was a class project by teacher Shannon Seed’s class, who still teaches at Ranchero Elementary, which included what the students from that era hoped to achieve and what they predicted 2020 would be like.
Also unpacked was a greeting from December 2001, written by then-principal Derek Woodhurst.
Read About September 2021 Time Capsule Opening
SEE FACEBOOK LIVE OF OPENING
Contacted recently Woodhurst said the idea for the capsule was put together was because they too, had the pleasure of opening a time capsule and unearthing the “treasures” it held.
“We actually got the idea for the time capsule because 20 years earlier (1980), the staff of Ranchero had left a time capsule for us.” A couple of people who were involved in putting together that original time capsule were still on staff (Pat Danforth and Bonnie Lumley) in 2000.
“We opened it and then decided to keep the tradition going,” he explains. He added staff members including Seed, Pat Danforth, and Derek Gecse, were quite involved in preparing the capsule to be be opened in 2020 (although it ended up being 2021 because of COVID).
Woodhurst commented his group decided that they would “do it up right”, so his job was to get the time capsule built. The capsule was built by the carpenters at the works complex and Woodhurst arranged to have the cover plate made up. “Every class was invited to participate.” He added that there was a little Australian influence in the time capsule, including a student project on Australian slang, because there was an Australian exchange teacher at Ranchero, Leanne Giacomini, who was teaching an intermediate class.
“For our capsule we just came up with a couple of general themes. Students wanted to show what things were like in Year 2000 and then make some predictions or provide some guesses about what would be different in 2020. We certainly didn’t predict a worldwide pandemic to delay the opening of our capsule!”
“It was nice to see the kids outside of Ranchero on the video. I have fond memories of my time at that school.” Woodhurst is currently in Thailand, where his wife Wendy is the principal of an international school. “Here in Surabaya, at Wendy’s school, students are finally allowed to attend classes in person. However, it is only middle school to high school students at this point and for two hours a day, two days a week. The middle and high school kids alternate their days in the school. Hopefully, elementary kids will arrive soon.”
More Time Capsules Coming
Current Ranchero Principal Doug Cumming’s reports that they will be carrying on the time capsule tradition! “We are putting together a capsule for staff and students to open in 2042.”
Meanwhile, another school also has some time capsules waiting to be opened! In 2011 then school principal Carl Cooper and the staff and students of the brand new M.V. Beattie school made capsules to be opened in 2036 (25 years), 2061 (50 years) and 2111 (100 years)!