On Thursday, Feb. 25, the high school held a Cornerstone Ceremony, celebrating the installation of the time capsule in the new B building. 

The time capsule consisted of various items meant to represent the year of 2020 through the hardships of the pandemic and virtual schooling for students and teachers. 

Some items included were: a 2020 edition of the Horseshoe Yearbook, letters from Principal Andrew Neely, Superintendent Charles Prijatelj and a few student council members, a mask and a Chromebook. 

This time capsule project isn’t recent, however. Because there was no time capsule located in the old B building when it was torn down, Neely made this a project of his, planning and working on it for months. 

“All along in the design of the building there was a cornerstone and the time capsule. We have known about [the time capsule] for a long time. I’ve actually been collecting the pieces we put in the time capsule for probably over a couple months now,” principal Andrew Neely said.

While putting the pieces of the time capsule together, this opportunity and ceremony gave Neely and the students a chance to reflect on life within the last year. 

“[The] students wrote a lot about living through the pandemic, and I think that will be really powerful for the future to see that because it is the actual words [of these students]. It would be like finding a letter from 60 years ago and to read it and to read someone’s thoughts at that time,” Neely said.  

During the ceremony and after, both Neely and students couldn’t help but imagine what the future would look like and how future students and teachers would react to these items.

For senior class president Jack Hatch, he thought the mask was the most symbolic item, hopefully serving as an eye opener for students in the future of what life was actually like in 2020. 

“I do hope when they open it they’re like ‘oh, that [COVID-19] was real.’ Because sometimes you read things in your history books, and it doesn’t seem like those events are real because we never experienced them. I think having a mask in the time capsule will make them realize that this was a reality for us. I hope someone tries the mask on and thinks ‘wow they wore these every day,’” Hatch said. 

Neely felt as though the Chromebook would be the most impactful item for future teachers and students to see. 

“I think the Chromebook will be interesting because of the way technology moves so quickly. I love the thought of them opening it up and pulling it and thinking, ‘what is this?’ I mean, who knows, computers in the future probably won’t look like anything we have now,” Neely said. 

The ceremony itself occurred around 1:15. The school administrators and student ambassadors were joined by the pep band and cheerleaders in order to celebrate this achievement. 

Despite the delays with the initial ceremonial date and the number of months put into creating this time capsule, the final result was something Neely was proud of. 

“It’s been a lot of work to get us to this point. Like I said, it’s been difficult because of the pandemic, but it was good to have today as a celebration with the band and the cheerleaders out front, student representatives…it was just nice to get back and have a little glimpse of normal life that is hopefully coming very soon,” Neely said.