Saturday, May 20, 2000
School digs up the past
Amanda recovers 1965 time capsule, buries new one
By Sue Kiesewetter
Enquirer Contributor
MIDDLETOWN — When Carolyn Baker Kelechi's eighth-grade science class at Amanda Junior High School buried mementoes in a metal milk can 35 years ago, she didn't really expect to be there to see it dug up in the year 2000.
But Ms. Kelechi was one of several Amanda alumni on hand Friday as Cinergy workers pried open the can's welded lid just before Joan Stoutenborough — a former Amanda student and now director of Middletown's gifted education program — began reading what the students had written about the 1965 science class project.
“This is so exciting to be back for this. I wouldn't miss it for anything,” said Ms. Kelechi. “I remember thinking I'd be 48 when this would be opened, and I thought I'd never get that old!”
Out of the milk can came a Troll doll, a Beatles record, a “modern math” textbook, TV Guide, a rubber “superball,” a stamp, a copy of Mad and Boys Life magazines, a transistor battery and a James Bond book.
The items from the time capsule will be donated to the Middletown Historical Society for display at the group's museum.
“I had forgotten what was in here,” said Wilma Wood, a former Amanda teacher who now directs the Tristate Habitat for Humanity. “We were all so excited. The kids enjoyed putting it together.”
Even former principal Dale Reed attended the all-school assembly.
“It's great to see something frozen in time,” said Mr. Reed, who retired 23 years ago. “You get to see life as it really was. It makes me realize how fast a generation really passes.”
Second-grader Joey Rainey said he thought there
would be more toys - and video games - in the capsule.
“It's really, really neat. I got to see all the stuff people buried a long time ago,” Joey said.
“I'm surprised how old all the stuff is,” said 11-year-old Janna Guilfoyle. “They look so much different - hair and clothes.”
After the milk can was emptied, items from today were buried. Each of Amanda's 20 classes filled a small bag and put it into the can, to be opened in 2025.
“We chose this so people 25 years from now would know what we had to suffer through,” said John Cunningham, of a practice fourth-grade proficiency test. His class also included Pokemon cards and an 'NSync poster in their bag.
Among the items buried were the book “The Very Hungry Caterpillar,” a Pizza Hut “Book-it” coupon, an Intel pentium computer chip, a Newsweek magazine about Elian Gonzalez, and some Beanie babies.
PHOTO: Dick Swaim
Photographs buried 35 years ago bring chuckles from Amanda alumni Roseanna Gilbert Tidwell (left) and Judie Sibert Dreyer.
Tiffany Hamm, 8, a second-grader at Amanda Elementary, puts a list in the new time capsule.
Colon cancer vaccine ready to test
Student graduates in hospital
Again: A fatal crash and a stricken school
Taft signs ban on some late-term abortions
'Average Joe' robs Clermont bank
Fairfield official indicted on fraud
Findlay project gets $250,000 gift
Petition dispute a lesson in civics
RAMSEY: School funding is one hot potato
Slain police officers honored at memorial service
'Son of Beast' closed for third weekend
TV ads called loophole
Ky. to see Bush, Gore often
N.Ky. primary is one-office race
Other candidates on ballot, like it or not
Appeal rejected in Officer Partin's death
Newport looks at race book
Schools look for new chief
Schools to move off tainted site
Cancer report led to probe
Get to it
May Festival gets off to glorious start
Pig Parade: Sow's It Goin' . . . Cincinnati!
Suspect in fatal DUI returns to Mexico
Teen faces weapons charge
Teen held on suspicion of poisoning drinks
Tristate Digest
Around the Commonwealth
Covington teachers get raises
Dozens charged after wild party
Fairfield schools hire new athletic director
Girl, 14, suspended for threatening letter
Man guilty of raping girl, 11
Middletown will survey residents about parks
Mission: To bring Hamilton business
Orchestra listens to critics of new name
OSU strike appears ended
Phys ed shunted aside in curriculum changes
S. Lebanon man pleads guilty in Jan. shooting
School digs up the past
Senate hopeful wants divorce of religion, politics
Sibling bus drivers retiring
Slaying still juvenile case, Wehrung lawyers say
Software maker heads to Deerfield
