April 29, 1998
Time capsules stir memories buried from the sixth grade
By Carol South
Herald contributing writer
Nineteen high school seniors dug up their past Friday night at Glenn Loomis Elementary School, and what they found in those two five-gallon buckets surprised them.
Taking a peek at their younger selves, the students unearthed time capsules that they had buried six years earlier. Inside were forgotten schoolwork, pictures, letters, magazines and other memorabilia from their preteen years.
"We were so excited to do this; six years looked like so long, but it went fast," said Barbi Glenn, a senior at Traverse City West Senior High School, as she looked over a picture from a sixth-grade party. "I used to be taller than all the boys. Not anymore."
The nostalgia was part of a reunion party. The former Glenn Loomis Elementary sixth-graders reminisced with 10 former teachers, the former school nurse, some former principals and dozens of parents. But the opening of the time capsules proved the highlight of the evening.
Glenn found a picture of her baby cousin, now 6 years old, copies of Vogue and Teen magazines and mementos from school trips. She also found a note to her older self, written by her mother.
"My mom told me she cried while writing this," Glenn said. "I think I'll read this at home later."
The time capsules idea started with city resident Kathy Nolan, mother of Patrick Nolan, now a senior at Traverse City West Senior High. She had heard the idea from a parent at another school and decided it would be fun for the kids at Glenn Loomis. She enrolled the two sixth-grade teachers in helping and they assigned the kids to write letters to themselves and include some samples of their schoolwork.
On June 12, 1992, students sealed and buried two time capsules, five-gallon plastic buckets, one for each class.
"It was real good for them to think about the future, though they thought it was so far away," Kathy Nolan said Friday. "They can now see how things change and that some things that were important then are not now."
Time capsules aside, the reunion was strange for many of the kids.
"Everything looks so small, but there are a lot of memories here," said Matt Nehs, a senior at Traverse City West High School, who as a sixth-grader wanted to be a teacher but now wants to be a surgeon.