Allan Nunn who was principal of W. J. Berezowsky when the time capsule was created, reveals a newspaper from inside it, current principal Dwayne Tournier looks on. (Alison Sandstrom/paNOW Staff)

By Alison Sandstrom

Blast From The Past

Berezowsky community gathers to open time capsule

Jan 24, 2020 | 6:37 PM

The contents of a 20-year-old time capsule were revealed to a rapt audience of current and former students and staff on Friday at W. J. Berezowsky School.

Retired teacher, Patti Jamieson was in charge of helping students create the time capsule in the year 2000.

She returned to the school on Friday to see it opened.

“I think it’s really exciting for them [the students] to know that they are part of a continuum,” she told paNOW. “And that they can learn about the past and realize that was part of their parents and grandparents’ lives, and know that they themselves will also be part of the future.”

Coun. Don Cody told the crowd he wasn’t sure he’d be here to open the next capsule in the year 2040, but woud leave his business card as Ward 4 councillor inside. (Alison Sandstrom/paNOW Staff)

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Jamieson was joined by other special guests from the school’s past, including the former principal, the previous caretaker, old teachers and half a dozen now graduated students.

Even Coun. Don Cody, who was mayor of the city of P.A. in 2000 attended the event, which featured lights, a smoke machine and pop hits of the era.

Cody told the students the city had changed enormously in the past 20 years. In the year 2000, construction had not even started on the Cornerstone Shopping Centre, which today is a hub of activity.

“Believe it or not, the cows and horses were roaming in the stockyard, there was nothing there,” he said.

The faces of the past, from left former Berezowsky principal Allan Nunn, former mayor Don Cody and former Berezowsky student Tanya McArthur. (Alison Sandstrom/paNOW Staff)

Tanya McArthur was in grade five when the capsule was sealed, she remembers it as an exciting event.

“I remember it being a really big deal to think about what you will be like in that many years, and as a grade five student I remember saying to myself ‘I will never be 30,'” she told paNOW.

McArthur is now a teacher herself and credits her time at Berezowsky as having an enormous positive impact on her life.

Anticipation inside the packed gym grew, as each class made predictions about the capsule’s contents, and speakers explained now ancient practices like Blockbuster VCR rentals.

Finally its contents were revealed by former principal Allan Nunn with the help of current Principal Dwayne Tournier.

The grade one class correctly predicted that finger board would be inside the capsule. (Alison Sandstrom/paNOW Staff)

Allan Nunn reads entries by his past students about their hopes for the future. (Alison Sandstrom/paNOW Staff)

Inside were letters by students about their future aspirations, school newsletters, a newspaper and a finger board.

The contents of the capsule. (Alison Sandstrom/paNOW Staff).

During the final part of the assembly, each class in the school contributed items to a larger time capsule to be opened in the year 2040.

Kindergarten students sealed pictures of some of their favourite things inside a sparkley pencil case, their picks included Slime, Frozen and the popular dance Flossing. (Alison Sandstrom/paNOW Staff)

The grade three class included plans for what they want to be when they grow up to the time capsule. (Alison Sandstrom/paNOW Staff)

Another class added pictures of politicians of the day including the Prime Minister, the Premier and P.A. Mayor Greg Dionne. (Alison Sandstrom/paNOW Staff).

“I think it was just an eyeopener for them to see what we had back then,” acting Vice Principal Jennifer Huddlestone said, reflecting on the event. “The technology, what children played, and also for them to see some types of things haven’t really changed a whole lot.”

The time capsule sealed on Friday is the third in a line of Berezowsky capsules, with the first one being created in 1988.

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alison.sandstrom@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @alisandstrom