ALLENTOWN, Pa. — Much like giving your neighbor an extra set of house keys in case you lose yours, it’s smart to have a backup plan.
That lesson was shared at Dieruff High School on a day when the opening of a time capsule from 2000 didn’t come off quite as planned.
Last week, a group of students interested in science unearthed a time capsule that was buried by members of the Class of 2000 in the courtyard behind the cafeteria.
The plan was to take part on Tuesday in a celebrated reveal of items that reflected life at Dieruff and the world during that time period.
The unearthed capsule was transported to the library, where it was clear Mother Nature had not been cooperative.
“There were Beta video tapes, old graduation items, news articles specific to Dieruff and random stuff about space in a plastic bag. It was a mess. We wondered, ‘Where do we go from here?’”Geoffrey Schmidt, Dieruff High School principal
“The capsule was made of concrete in the shape of a cube that was sealed with putty and buried about a foot deep,” Dieruff High Principal Geoffrey Schmidt said Tuesday afternoon.
“But despite it being hermetically sealed, it was swamped inside. We opened the top and black liquid oozed out. There were vacuum-sealed plastic bags that took on water.
“There were Beta video tapes, old graduation items, news articles specific to Dieruff and random stuff about space in a plastic bag.
"It was a mess. We wondered, ‘Where do we go from here?’”
Just to be safe
Hands from members of the Dieruff student council were quickly raised, eager to share this bit of news.
A second time capsule was placed in the walk-in safe in the high school’s main office.
“I didn’t know there was a second vessel."Dieruff High School Principal Geoffrey Schmidt
“I didn’t know there was a second vessel,” Schmidt said. “We opened that" on Tuesday afternoon.
“It contained everything from when [George W.] Bush was president and visited Dieruff in 1989.
"It also had some photos of proms in the late 1990s, a newspaper front page article on the Y2K scare, other trinkets from Dieruff from the late 1990s and 2000 and a DHS of a concert at which our ROTC received an award in Rhode Island.”
Perhaps the most interesting (valuable?) item inside the backup time capsule was an autographed photo of Buzz Aldrin, the second man to walk on the moon.
On Tuesday, Dieruff students loaded items into a new time capsule that will be opened in 2050 — 25 years from now.
No word on whether a second time capsule will be loaded and saved inside the school.
You know, just to be safe.
