Kosciusko junior high class of 1992 gathers in attempt to recover the memories they buried 29 years ago
What began as a hunt for a time capsule from 1992 ended in confusion, an ounce of disappointment, and a lot of fellowship.
Last Thursday, 16 former eighth graders of Kosciusko Junior High School gathered alongside their eighth-grade physical science teacher Kim Hardy (formerly Ms. Willis) and current KJHS Principal Logan Cheek to search for a time capsule the group buried on May 22, 1992.
According to a hand-drawn map pulled from a long-hidden envelope recently found in a drawer at the current junior high, the time capsule was buried at 600 Tipton St., the former junior high school. The facility has since been used as an alternative school and Head Start center.
Hardy, who began her career in the dental hygiene field and later went on to teach at East Central Community College, said that this class was a significant part of her first teaching job.
“I was a little older when I began teaching, so these kids really sparked my love for the profession. I ended up with a group of students that loved learning,” she told The Star-Herald. “They were a unique class. I remember asking the students what we would tell a class 25 years in the future, and that was the idea of the entire project. Future students could open the time capsule and see how our culture was in 1992.”
The teacher said students donated items to go into the time capsule, including an annual, a pair of Nike Air Pegasus shoes, a cassette tape, and a bank account containing $36 that may have accrued some interest over the years. According to her memory, the capsule was wrapped in paper and covered in a stainless steel box.
Hardy and several of her former students recalled the day they made this time capsule, but everyone seemed to remember the burial location differently.
The interest in the long-forgotten time capsule was recently revived when a Mickey Mouse-themed envelope — addressed to the eighth grade class of 2017 from the eighth grade class of 1992 — was found in a desk at the current junior high school during some spring cleaning.
Ironically, members of the eighth-grade class of 2017 are currently graduating seniors, so the timing of the envelope’s discovery seemed to be driven by fate. Several of them came to the site last Thursday to witness the effort to recover and open the time capsule.
The envelope contained a comprehensive map drawn by Hardy detailing the precise location of the “artifact burial site,” which was supposed to be 10 steps from the band hall and five steps from the nearest walkway. Also enclosed was a letter to the eighth-grade class of 2017 and a list of the names of all 209 eighth-graders in the 1991-92 school year.
The letter reads:
“Hello! Greetings from 1992. Greetings from a precious teenage generation! Our eighth-grade class has left a time capsule for you to find, unseal, and analyze. This time capsule was a class project completed and buried on May 22, 1992 at 10:20 a.m. We feel the artifacts we have enclosed in the capsule present our American culture and lifestyle for 1991-92. In fact, our purpose in the project was to analyze our culture and lifestyle and leave a permanent record for a future generation’s discovery. We feel it will be interesting for you to analyze our artifacts and to try and determine how much American lifestyle has changed in the past 25 years. Enclosed with this letter are a map site and a list of students in our eighth-grade class. We hope all of the artifacts are in good shape. We want you to try and contact each of us to attend the unsealing of the time capsule. We want to meet the generation of eighth graders for the year 2017. Good hunting and best of luck in the future.”
Landon Gibson / The Star-Herald
Sixteen members of the KJHS Class of 1992 gathered at the site of their former school Thursday to witness what they hoped would be the unearthing of the time capsule they buried 29 years ago. Instead, they ended up unearthing a lot of memories.
Perhaps the final line was cursed.
Starting at 9 a.m. last Thursday, 16 members of the 1992 eighth-grade class began digging. Led by class president Haley Kuhn, other attendees included Amy Sims, Emily Bennett, Melissa Nunn, Frankie Thorpe, Suzanne Crosby, Mary Ann Wade, Suzanne Rush, Jeff Meggs, Josh McGee, Zack Musselwhite, Georgena Merritt, Allen and Kristie Standard, Greg Chandler, and Kosciusko School District staffer Sandy McBride. One shovel was the only equipment available when the search began.
Kristie and Allen Standard, classmates that later married, told The Star-Herald that they expected the world to be a lot different today than when they were in junior-high, but not much has changed. They currently have a daughter in the Kosciusko School District, and Kristie works for the school district teaching third graders at Kosciusko Middle Elementary.
“I remember thinking things would be a lot different 25 years into the future, but honestly, life is really not much different now than it was back then,” she said.
After some debate over the exact location, the group followed the map orders and began attempting to unearth this time capsule. Quickly realizing that one shovel was not enough after unsuccessfully digging one hole, Cheek and present class members sought more assistance.
Anticipation reached new heights each time the shovel struck the dirt, but time passed without unearthing the capsule.
One shovel led to two, and two shovels led to a backhoe.
Excited former classmates grew restless and slightly aggravated, but they never lost hope that the capsule would be found.
At multiple points, when a shovel struck something below ground, the hype surrounding the buried artifacts was renewed. But those waves of excitement resulted in disappointment when it turned out to be bricks or slabs of concrete.
Minutes turned into hours. What began at 9 a.m. continued more than three hours later. Skepticism increased with some wondering if a member of the class later visited the spot intoxicated on a Friday night and dug it all up without telling anyone.
But another glimmer of hope sparked when former student Jeff Meggs revealed an old, preserved newspaper clipping from The Star-Herald detailing the time capsule burial in 1992, including a photograph of the original burial. This revelation led to more speculation regarding the capsule’s precise location. The photo was not too revealing, but it provided some clarity.
Landon Gibson / The Star-Herald
Jeff Meggs, a member of the KJHS Class of 1992 brought along a newspaper clip detailing the creation and burial of the time capsule, published in The Star-Herald at the time.
By this time, the backhoe had dug up almost the entire grassy area to the right of the current Alternative School. Former classmates slowly began leaving and returning to their jobs.
Around noon, the backhoe hit and busted a water line, causing a small geyser of water to skyrocketing from the ground.
All the group could do was laugh. After busting the water line, the backhoe sputtered out and refused to crank, so more assistance was called to jump off the John Deere.
Landon Gibson / The Star-Herald
After starting with one shovel, then several, the group called for a backhoe to help dig up their time capsule. That led to a water line break. Then the backhoe could not be restarted, bringing the search to a halt.
What was planned to be a quick digging and unveiling had turned into an adventurous morning, with many highs of excitement and lows of disappointment.
The group made the most of the challenge, however, and ended up having an impromptu reunion filled with laughter, nostalgia, and storytelling recounting their many memories of time together throughout the years.
“The irony of it all is that we gathered today to find this time capsule. We stepped all over this place and dug holes everywhere, but we do not have a time capsule,” said Hardy. “However, instead of finding that physical time capsule, we actually discovered something more precious — the special bond that exists between teachers and students and students and their peers.”
Days after the group abandoned the effort, Cheek said new information had been gathered about the time capsule’s whereabouts. According to Cheek, the late former Kosciusko School District Superintendent David Sistrunk moved the capsule to the new high school during its construction.
With no further information to go on, there are no plans to continue the search for the time capsule at this time.
“In order to preserve the memories, he relocated the time capsule because he was unsure of who would own the property of the old junior high school years into the future,” Cheek told The Star-Herald. “He was unsure because Head Start was in the mix, and at the time, he just didn’t know who would own it in 25 years. Regardless, everyone had fun and it was a blast being able to get together and reminisce about what may or may not be in there.”
