MS Coast elementary school opens time capsule from 1999. Here’s what they found inside

In the late 1990s, many people thought civilization was going to end on Jan. 1, 2000. Students and staff at W.J. Quarles Elementary in Long Beach clearly didn’t think so.

In 1999, students in a program for gifted children were looking to the future as they placed letters and possessions into a time capsule that would be sealed and buried near the school’s entrance. Friday, 25 years later, the time capsule was opened.

Carol Paola, who has been teaching since the 1970s, and Myriam Downey, who now teaches in Atlanta, had their students fill the capsule with whatever was meaningful to them back in 1999. The teachers, with Downey appearing with her current students via Zoom, reunited at the capsule’s opening on Friday.

Some of the students who filled the capsule in 1999 also attended. Paola says one of her former students, Colby Holland, has been reminding her about the capsule ever since it was buried.

“I remember we were able to go home and bring in objects or items that meant something to us,” said Holland, who attended the opening with his son Kameron, who is now a student at the school. “We brought different things, like VHS tapes or floppy disks, or even toys that we might have had back then.”

Friday, after current students read a speech and helped scoop dirt from the spot where the capsule was buried, Holland had the honor of reaching into the hole in the ground and pulling out a long PVC pipe capsule.

Together with a school staff member, Holland sawed through the end of the PVC pipe, revealing one thing they’d hoped to not find: water.

Water dribbled out of the capsule as Holland removed the soggy contents. Some things, like a cassette tape and a VHS tape were unusable, while others, like four Pokemon cards were in relatively good condition.

Also inside the capsule was a millennium beanie baby, a staff directory from the school, a yearbook, a National Geographic magazine from 1998, a copy of the Sun Herald from December 1999, a K-Mart advertisement listing a 19 inch TV for $149.99 and a PlayStation 1 for $99, a very damaged comic book or magazine and photos that were so water damaged that they were just blobs of color.

Several letters, many of which were water damaged but salvageable, were also in the capsule, including one Downey wrote to the future on behalf of her class.

Holland teared up as he read her letter aloud: “My message to the future is to take the time to spend time with the ones you love. I really believe these moments will still be most important in these times and build memories that keep us sane,” the letter said.

As the letters were laid out on a table to dry, another former student, Jarred Rushing, found the letter he had written 25 years ago. In it, young Rushing had described how at that time he loved collecting stamps and James Bond, listening to the Backstreet Boys, NSYNC and Britney Spears and that kids wore baggy jeans and messaged each other on AOL chat.

“What means the most is I’m here with my 10-year-old daughter and I was 10 when I did this; that’s legacy,” he said. “I still journal everyday so leaving things for people to find later is an extraordinary thing.”

Students at the school will continue to do just that. According to Payola, in January students will bury a time capsule again, this time to be opened in another 25 years in 2050.

Paola hopes they will be able to use the same capsule, this time better sealed.

This story was originally published December 14, 2024 at 5:00 AM.