A gym floor board, a jump drive containing photos and a book of fourth-grade students’ thoughts on their school and community. Those were just a few of the items placed in a time capsule to represent each of the Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp. schools and programs in the area.
The items were placed in a blue-painted water pipe and planted Tuesday outside the school corporation’s administration building, at 1200 Central Ave.
That pipe will serve as the time capsule celebrating Indiana’s bicentennial. It is set to be opened in 50 years in the hope that younger members of the Bartholomew Consolidated staff, administrators and community will be present in its reopening, said Chanda Welsh, assistant director of elementary education and curriculum.
A crowd of students and their families, teachers, principals and BCSC faculty attended the event to celebrate and see what each school or program would add to the capsule.
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John Foster of WCSI radio opened the ceremony by speaking about how much life has changed in the past 50 years, specifically mentioning the Vietnam War, miniskirts and that gas cost a mere 32 cents per gallon in 1966.
Bartholomew Consolidated Superintendent Jim Roberts shared historic contributions that Columbus has made to the state of Indiana: the Crump Theatre, Gov. Mike Pence, Chuck Taylor and architecture.
“The Bartholomew County area is well known for its rural charm, outstanding architecture and economic vitality,” Roberts said. “We are also very well known for our school system.”
Members of each school helped fill the pipe — chosen by the students because it would not rust or deteriorate over the next half-century — with the items they chose and took turns burying it.
The real question was what people would discover when they unearth the capsule in 2066.
Tammie LeClerc, Northside Middle School health teacher, attended the event and hoped that future generations would learn about the foundation of BCSC.
“I always think it is good for the future to know your history — where you came from and build on that,” LeClerc said. “I hope they look at this and think, ‘Wow, they cared about us, and we weren’t even born yet!’”
Northside added a magnet with the school logo, a course directory and a parent brochure to the capsule.
Emily Haines, a fourth-grade student at Parkside, had high hopes for what future generations would take away from the capsule’s reopening in 2066.
“I hope that no matter how much we will evolve and if technology will evolve in the future, we will always have a respect for true learning and hard work,” Haines said.
Parkside included a picture book with images of Indiana and Columbus landmarks, and the school included written messages of students’ hopes for the future.
Perhaps the most humorous item included was added last: a Twinkie. It was thought up by Welsh, who said the only two things she could think of that would last forever were Twinkies and cockroaches — and she wanted to know what it would look like in 50 years.
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These were the items included by each school and school program in the Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp. time capsule:
Central Middle School — A brick from the original building, a Central Chargers T-shirt and a publication from the dedication of the new Central building in 2007.
Northside Middle School — A 2016 course description guide, parent brochure and Northside Spartan magnet.
Bright Beginnings — The state of Indiana with all the children’s fingerprints and names.
Busy Bees Pre-K — Their iconic bumblebee logo.
Clifty Creek Elementary — A 2016 Indy 500 flag with Clifty student signatures.
CSA-Fodrea campus — T-shirt from the 2016 Girls on the Run program.
CSA-Lincoln campus — A coin, minted to commemorate the opening of CSA-Lincoln.
CSA-New Tech High School — A jump drive containing pictures of the building and spaces.
Columbus East High School — East letter jacket letter, copy of the Oracle, color copy of every senior project description page for 2016, original school brochure– all inside an East bag.
Columbus North High School — Piece of original gym floor and copy of The Triangle.
C4 program — C4 students created the time capsule and contributed a piece of cut metal with the C4 logo and a 2016 Mill Race Marathon Medal.
McDowell Education Center — Program brochure and postcard.
Mt. Healthy Elementary — Two handcrafted ornaments representing Indiana and Bartholomew County.
Parkside Elementary — A picture book of Indiana and Columbus landmarks and icons with written messages of student hopes for the future.
W.D. Richards Elementary — T-shirt with the iconic Richards Raider “Rowdy.”
Rockcreek Elememntary: The dog collar from the school mascot, the Rockcreek bulldog.
L.C. Schmitt Elementary: A book created by fourth-graders with answers to questions such as “What is a great place to visit in Indiana?”
L.F. Smith Elemetary: A Smith Sonic lanyard with spirit sticks students earn for deeds well done.
Southside Elementary: A Mustang cup with a mystery letter to be opened in 2066.
Taylorsville Elementary: A jump drive with videos of students demonstrating growth mindset and a list of students who participated.
English Language Learners program — T-shirt with the ELL program theme.
iCare after care program — A Fast Flyer Frisbee in the spirit of iCare and Beacon.
Book Buddies — Example of a Book Buddies book.
IT Services — The motherboard from a current Chromebook.
BCSC food services — Zoey the Zucchini holding an “It’s cool to eat at school” pencil. Zoey represents the 2016 World Food Day featured vegetable, the squash.
BCSC administration — The 2016 Community Report Card, a digital copy of the BCSC brochure, a copy of “BCSC in Action,” a letter containing reasons for the time capsule and other information, and a Twinkie (because they want to see what it will look like in 50 years).
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