CLARKSVILLE, TN (CLARKSVILLE NOW) – Filled to the brim with letters, toilet paper and face masks, a time capsule was buried on Monday by 8th graders at Richview Middle School to help future students understand what life was like during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We wanted to give you guys a chance to maybe write down your thoughts and leave a message to the students 14 years in your future,” 8th grade teacher Ann Marie Crozier said.
The project
About 25 students attended the burial ceremony, socially distanced of course.
The time capsule project was headed up by two 8th grade social studies teachers, Crozier and Devin Roberts, and enlisted the help of over 300 8th graders to author a letter to future students about life during the past school year.
Roberts said he was surprised by the level of insight the students showed in their letters.
“A lot of them were talking about though this has been the worst year, it has also been the best year. There were a lot of stories about how they were quarantined at home with their family, but they never thought they would have had the opportunity to get to know their family members,” Roberts told Clarksville Now.
The time capsule was supposed to be a replace another capsule buried 14 years ago. However, when the teachers went to unearth it, the capsule had collapsed under the weight of the soil, which ruined the letters inside.
“Now we’ve got an actual capsule and we’ve vacuum-sealed everything,” Roberts said.
Crozier then added clarification about why the 14-year mark meant something to the school, as well as the students.
“Most of y’all are about 14 by now. This wing of the building was added 14 years ago, and 14 years ago, 8th grade classes were put in here,” Crozier said. “You guys were born when this building came up. I guarantee your parents didn’t think this kind of year was going to happen 14 years ago.”
Future hopes
As the students took turns adding face masks, toilet paper, gloves, a student drawing, photos of social-distancing signs and the letters, the hopes were high that these items particularly would provide insight as to just how much the pandemic changed the everyday.
“So the kids we hope will read these someday, these letters that you’ve written are kids that haven’t been born yet or they were born this year,” Crozier said.
The capsule’s lid was then screwed in and buried by students who took turn moving the earth.
New realizations
14-year-old Hadley Butler offered to share what her letter contained.
“It was mostly about us moving in a house, into our new house we were building and how we were living in this rental house during quarantine,” Butler said to her classmates. “I think at the end, I realized that being in a small space kind of brought us more together.”
Fourteen-year-old Triztan Hernandez said the year helped him to realize the value of in-person activities.
“It made me realize how much I do miss being with everyone, because for the first couple weeks I thought it would be really fun just to stay home and not do anything, but after awhile I started missing the things I used to do, like coming (to school) and socializing with people,” Hernandez said.
All of the students were excited about the return of normalcy as the school district is just a few days away from summer break.
“That’s what I’m excited about, is no more masks and being able to do more activities and events and things without having to social distance,” Butler said.
And the teachers both invited their students back to the school 14 years from now when they dig the capsule up.