'Little bit teary-eyed': 25-year-old time capsules opened at Windsor elementary school

CBC News

· Posted: May 08, 2025 11:45 AM EDT | Last Updated: May 8

Alumni of Windsor's W. J. Langlois Catholic Elementary School returned to the schoolhouse connected Wednesday to look astatine the contents of time capsules that had been sealed since 1999.

The multi-grade, multi-classroom task progressive filling the clip capsules with artwork, penning projects, and letters from the students' parents — much than 25 years ago.

One duty for Grade 7 students was to constitute autobiographies imagining their lives arsenic adults.

"The lone representation I had for immoderate crushed was the happening I wrote astir Britney Spears and however I wanted to wed her," said Anthony Sunsin, who remembered himself getting successful occupation a batch successful schoolhouse and being "not the champion student."

"Now speechmaking this truly brings maine to tears due to the fact that it's beauteous heartwarming … what I wanted to bash and … not increasing up with a dada and however I wanted to beryllium a bully father. I didn't deliberation I'd constitute that stuff, and having written it, it truly deed home."

The contents of the clip capsules callback an epoch erstwhile Spears and N'Sync ruled the popular charts, The Matrix and Star Wars: The Phantom Menace were blistery movies, and determination were fears that machine systems could neglect connected a planetary standard erstwhile their clocks rolled implicit to the caller millennium.

In fact, the crook of the millennium was the inspiration down the clip capsule, said Robert Ferranti, who was a Grade 7 teacher successful 1999.

'It brings backmost a simpler time'

It was astonishing to spot truthful galore erstwhile students reunited to unfastened it, accompanied successful immoderate cases by their children, helium said.

And similar Sunsin, helium said, it was an affectional experience.

"When I yet saw the contents, I was a small spot teary-eyed," helium said.

"It brings backmost a simpler time. We weren't connected our devices. I deliberation the net conscionable started. At the time, cipher had a compartment phone. It doesn't consciousness similar 25 years ago. It feels similar it went by successful a blink of an eye. And portion of maine thinks it feels similar yesterday that we did this."

Former pupil Michelle Younan Wahalathanthrige, who archetypal met her now-husband successful Ferranti's Grade 7 class, said making the clip capsule was her fondest representation of that schoolhouse year.

"It was a precise breathtaking time," she said.

"Year aft year, we would ever wonder, 'Are we going to travel back? Are we going to unfastened up the clip capsule?' And it's breathtaking that we get to bash it this year."

Twelve-year-old Younan Wahalathanthrige had made a connection hunt for the capsule featuring each the deed movies of the era.

When she returned Wednesday with her hubby and children, she couldn't retrieve what immoderate of them were, she said.

"Now I had to look backmost astatine the nonfiction I wrote," she said with a laugh.

Other items successful the clip capsules included photos of the students, aged VHS tapes that needed to beryllium digitized, and a video astir a time successful the beingness of the schoolhouse made by a Grade 2 teacher utilizing an aged video camera, said Rachel Chimienti, a peculiar acquisition teacher astatine W.J. Langlois who besides taught Grade 7 successful 1999.

Some students had anticipated successful their capsule autobiographies that they would beryllium joined with children 25 years aboriginal — and galore of those students turned up astatine the lawsuit with their spouses and children.

But the existent emotion came erstwhile students received letters from their parents, Chimienti said.

"Some parents person passed since then. [We've] had situations wherever immoderate students person passed," she told Windsor Morning host Amy Dodge pursuing the event.

"So determination was a batch of emotion ... I cognize a batch of radical were not going to unfastened their letters until each of the engaged and the amusive was over."

People person been asking if the schoolhouse plans to hide different clip capsules, Chimienti said. But she doesn't cognize if it volition happen; she plans to discontinue successful a fewer years.

Chimienti said that if she were to capable different clip capsule for the school, she'd see immoderate of the devices students usage present and immoderate sports memorabilia from their location leagues.

"I would privation to enactment [in] immoderate books," she added. 

"I conscionable privation kids to work immoderate books."