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In November 1987, the students and faculty of Museum School 25 buried a time capsule with keepsakes representative of their daily lives, local news and pop culture. Yonkers Mayor Mike Spano joined many of the original participants Wednesday morning to view the old capsule’s contents, and replace it with a new capsule for the next 25 years.
Fran Vogel was one of the many teachers who returned to the school after 25 years to see the capsule’s contents.
"We worked a lot with museums 25 years ago and preserving items from our lives was something we were very proud of," Vogel said. "Putting the capsule together was a collaborative effort where everyone was asked to bring in something important to them at the time. Now, I'm just trying to find the item I put in."
Spano attended the ceremony and spoke to the students about how things change with time.
"Twenty-five years ago, I was a lot younger, a lot skinnier and I didn't have any grey hair," Spano said. "A lot is going to happen in the next 25 years, and you'll all be amazed how much is going to change. I want you all to close your eyes and remember this moment because 25 years from now you'll be back here and reminiscing about how much is different and how much is the same."
The school’s art teacher Christine Wilner designed the current time capsule. The capsule was fitted with an electrical panel inside and a pluming pipe outside. It was then preserved with a special sealer and finally painted by some of the students. While the capsule only took about a week to put together, it could last forever, Wilner said.
The time capsule tradition should never end because it bridges the gap between different generations, Vogel said.
"What we did was great because it's a means of communication from one generation to the next," Vogel said. "It was a way to freeze a moment in time and pass it on to the next generation. Things from one period of time to the next are often forgotten, but by burying these capsules the feeling of the time can't ever be lost."
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