Members of HJ Cody School’s graduating Class of 2015 are excited about opening up the time capsule envelopes they created three years ago.
The graduates will open the envelopes at the end of the school year. The envelopes contain letters they wrote to themselves, letters from friends and family members, pictures and other momentous items from when they were in Grade 9.
HJ Cody School teacher Kelsey Wilson started the time capsule four years ago. Members of the current graduating class will be the first to open their envelopes.
When the graduates were in Grade 9, Wilson asked them to write about their predictions for graduation, such as what they think they will do in their adult years and what is currently going on in their lives.
“When they submitted things in Grade 9, they now will look back and think 'did I write like that?', or 'is that the picture I thought I looked good in?', or 'wow, I had cool hair or really crazy hair',” Wilson said. “In this time of technology they are text messaging all the time. They don't usually have tangible things to hold on to. It's nice for them to see their writing and to see their families’ writing.”
She said she is strongly encouraging the school’s current Grade 9 students to participate in this annual project, as she feels many of them don't realize how quickly high school goes by or how much they will forget during those years.
Those students will open their time capsule envelopes in June 2018.
Wilson said it’s her goal for every student to have an envelope to open when they graduate. She said she would even mail the time capsule envelope to a student who has moved to another school.
“A lot of us can't remember what was happening when we were 14 or 15 years old, but these guys will have memorabilia of what was going on at that age,” Wilson said.
Wilson said she’s adamant about the students participating in the time capsule because she has the personal experience of doing it herself.
She said if she hadn't participated in her own time capsule experience, she wouldn't have the letters from now-deceased family members that she does.
“I did a time capsule and I have letters from family members who are no longer alive, and it's good to have that memorabilia,” Wilson said. “Everyone is so used to Facebook and texting. We don't usually have full letters expressing emotions to an individual to hold on to and have as a keepsake.”