A future discovery is buried in the ground and stored away in a locked box at Pleasant Corners Public School (PCPS).
On Tuesday, October 14, the Grade five and six classes, under the leadership of teacher Jennifer Anderson and student teacher Jan Amell placed one time capsule in the schoolyard containing copies of student letters and class photos, and another sealed in Anderson’s classroom with personalized mini capsules and engraved with the students’ names and the GPS coordinates of where it’s buried on the school grounds. The classroom capsule box and site marker were built by Vankleek Hill Collegiate Institute (VCI) students.
Anderson said the project captures the spirit of learning and is also a symbol of hope and community spirit for the future.
“Today, you are doing something that connects present with the future,” Champlain Township Mayor Normand Riopel told the students.
For the time capsule, its future is in 2032 when it will be opened.
Representatives of the local historical community were encouraging of the time capsule project.
Vankleek Hill Historical Society President Debbie Hall described the time capsule as “a box full of surprises.”
Glengarry Pioneer Museum Curator Jennifer Black said the project is a good lesson in the importance of recording history.
“Only 10 per cent of history is preserved,” she commented.
Black said the historical importance is usually only deliberately recorded for big projects, and that the time capsule project is a deliberate recording of everyday life.
Amell said creating the time capsules are an example of real-world learning.
Students Madeline Janacek and Tenley MacKinnon spoke on behalf of their classmates when the time capsules were sealed and buried.
“What we place in the time capsules says a lot about us,” MacKinnon said.
She added that the items also indicate how the students are seeing themselves in the future.
Janacek said each student wrote about their life in 2025.
“I have always wanted to make a time capsule and Ms. Amell and Ms. Anderson made this possible,” she said.
The event concluded with an invitation for guests to leave messages in a commemorative book, which was buried with the capsule. The time capsule box will be stored safely in Anderson’s classroom until 2032.
Photos: James Morgan
