In 1985, Dave Glancy (now retired) and Tom Henderson (now superintendent of Centerville City Schools) had students put together a time capsule for the 25th anniversary of the high school.
Last November, the time capsule was opened as planned. Glancy, in fact, came to Nancy Christiansen’s sociology class and did the honor himself.
Christiansen figures into the story in another way, too. When Glancy retired, he passed the time capsule on to Christiansen for safekeeping.
Throughout Christiansen’s teaching career, the time capsule has played an important role. Every year, students would bug her about it. What’s in the box, they’d ask? But Christiansen wouldn’t budge.
A plain cardboard box — the type that reams of paper come in — was carefully taped shut in 1985 and that’s the way it stayed until last November.
So what did it contain? An audio tape, for one, containing popular music of the era and a note listing the songs just in case tape was obsolete in 2010. It wasn’t, of course, but the popular Walkman met its end in the late 1990’s.
There were also magazines (one showed cars of the day) and collages of 1980’s fashions. Those got a laugh from the students.
There was also a student handbook and a yearbook.
Seeing what was in the old box kindled the fire to make a time capsule of their own.
“They were really excited about doing their own time capsule,” Christianson said. It was begun last November.
The time capsule helps teach about culture. While different societies have different cultures, a time capsule demonstrates how our own changes through the years.
The kids were asked to add items that would most define their own time period.
A photograph of the four sociology classes that finished the current time capsule was taken in mid-May, just as seniors attended their final day. Christianson was awaiting this year’s yearbook before the time capsule was sealed.
Similar to the last, the new time capsule also contains magazines, top news stories, grocery and technology store ads, a list of popular movies and TV shows.
“It’s really a huge mix of stuff,” Christiansen laughs.
The music, this time, was stored on a CD.
In 2035, when it’s opened, Christianson hopes some of her sociology students will be there. She plans to be there, too.
“I’m really excited about coming back for it,” she said. Students have offered to pick her up “from the old people’s home” but Christianson insists she’ll ride her bike.
Christianson, 53, is retiring after 31 years this month. Her entire teaching career has been spent in West Carrollton. She plans to bike, swim, read, write, play the piano and embroider.
She’ll volunteer more with Sun Watch. “They’re really excited to have me for more hours than I’ve been able to give them,” she said.
And she’ll tick off the years until it’s time to open the next time capsule. She’ll be 78.
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