The time capsule that was discovered over winter break in senior court was opened before school today in the Learning Commons. Students and teachers crowded the room and peered eagerly at the box, a large metal cube that was bolted shut. It was opened by juniors Daniel Magnuson and Austin Dilley from teacher Jason Berend’s metalshop class, who unbolted and pried off the lid without the aid of power tools.

“I honestly didn’t know what to expect,” said Magnuson. “I spent an hour and a half last week cleaning it off and we had a drill press and all this stuff ready in case we couldn’t get it open, and we didn’t need any of this stuff so that was nice. But we didn’t know how we were going to open it; we just brought some wrenches and hoped it worked.”

Once open, the time capsule was discovered to be from 2000 or 2001, containing items such as a copy of The Mustang from 2000, an SDA shirt that said “class of 2000,” a film camera, a dollar bill, and a student’s notebook. Many of the items had been damaged by exposure and were moldy or very damp, including several written notes in the box that had been rendered difficult to read. The items will be out for display on Exhibition Day this Friday, according to ASB teacher Rod Keillor.

The time capsule is much younger than many believed it to be, with one rumor stating that it had been in the ground since 1971. “I heard everything from ‘71 up to ‘91 or ‘92, but nobody knew,” said Principal Bjorn Paige. “It smelled older than 2000.”

“I expected it to be from earlier than 2000,” said sophomore Katherine Weinzierl. “I expected it to be either a secret government thing that had something radioactive in it, or a senior prank.”

ASB is currently planning to create a new time capsule for this school year. “We wanted to compose our own time capsule,” said Senior Director Hailey Reeves. “We had submissions starting at one of our Senior Javas where a bunch of seniors wrote down their favorite things from the years they went here, and soon we’re going to let students submit photos, their favorite CD or movie, a or newspaper or current event that has affected us.”

“This was really a learning experience to make it more airtight so that way it’s not going to be ruined by moisture,” Reeves said. “We also want to up the ante a bit and make it very interesting for when 50 years down the road someone finds our time capsule and decides to open it.”