MONROE - Black Hawk High School graduates dug up some history and created new memories Friday.
When the graduates were in third grade in 2000, their teachers, Jan Olson and Cindi Kaster, suggested each of the 34 students bury their own time capsule on Olson's farm, just north of Monroe. The plan was to dig up the capsules after graduation.
"This was the first and only time we did this," Olson said. "Every fall we always took the class on a trip, but that year we decided to do something different."
Some graduates couldn't be there because they had to work or had other plans, but 12 students, who graduated May 22, gathered Friday to find their time capsules.
It wasn't as easy as it sounds. They knew the general area where the capsules were buried, but not the specific location. So they had to dig, and dig and dig some more.
Some of the capsules, which either were plastic ice cream buckets or coffee cans, were a few inches below the ground. Others were at least a foot below the surface and some were even deeper.
It didn't take long before the diggers were sweating and breathing harder. They dug several inches, and if they didn't find anything they would move to the left or right to dig some more. The capsules were buried in rows but the trick was to find where the rows started and which way they went.
It wasn't long before the area looked like an archeological site.
"How deep could these be, we were only in third grade" one student joked as he put his foot to the shovel to dig some more.
Skylar Gerke found his time capsule right away.
"I remember where I buried it," he laughed.
"Your legs aren't any longer now than they were in third grade," classmate A.J. Meligan joked.
"Skylar was lazy and buried his six inches below the surface," Jordan Luhman added.
After about 45 minutes, they had found 12 of the capsules but still needed to find the other 22.
"We should have started at 8 (a.m.)," someone said.
Some of their classmates who couldn't be at the dig sent text messages to learn if their capsules were found. Even though they couldn't be with their classmates, they still were interested.
Olson said it was typical of the class.
"They're all really close and they're good friends," she said. "These are really good kids."
When they finally opened the capsules, they found a picture of themselves, a string to show how tall they were, a class list, a map of the school, autographs from the rest of the class, a hand print and a list of their favorite food and animals.
They laughed as they listened to what others wrote about themselves nine years ago.
"I want to learn to read better," one girl wrote on a piece of paper in her time capsule.
"You need to learn to write better," Meligan laughed.
They were able to talk about how much fun they had when they were in third grade, in middle school, in high school and on Friday as they dug up their time capsules.
They'll always have their memories of their time together, Olson said.
When the graduates were in third grade in 2000, their teachers, Jan Olson and Cindi Kaster, suggested each of the 34 students bury their own time capsule on Olson's farm, just north of Monroe. The plan was to dig up the capsules after graduation.
"This was the first and only time we did this," Olson said. "Every fall we always took the class on a trip, but that year we decided to do something different."
Some graduates couldn't be there because they had to work or had other plans, but 12 students, who graduated May 22, gathered Friday to find their time capsules.
It wasn't as easy as it sounds. They knew the general area where the capsules were buried, but not the specific location. So they had to dig, and dig and dig some more.
Some of the capsules, which either were plastic ice cream buckets or coffee cans, were a few inches below the ground. Others were at least a foot below the surface and some were even deeper.
It didn't take long before the diggers were sweating and breathing harder. They dug several inches, and if they didn't find anything they would move to the left or right to dig some more. The capsules were buried in rows but the trick was to find where the rows started and which way they went.
It wasn't long before the area looked like an archeological site.
"How deep could these be, we were only in third grade" one student joked as he put his foot to the shovel to dig some more.
Skylar Gerke found his time capsule right away.
"I remember where I buried it," he laughed.
"Your legs aren't any longer now than they were in third grade," classmate A.J. Meligan joked.
"Skylar was lazy and buried his six inches below the surface," Jordan Luhman added.
After about 45 minutes, they had found 12 of the capsules but still needed to find the other 22.
"We should have started at 8 (a.m.)," someone said.
Some of their classmates who couldn't be at the dig sent text messages to learn if their capsules were found. Even though they couldn't be with their classmates, they still were interested.
Olson said it was typical of the class.
"They're all really close and they're good friends," she said. "These are really good kids."
When they finally opened the capsules, they found a picture of themselves, a string to show how tall they were, a class list, a map of the school, autographs from the rest of the class, a hand print and a list of their favorite food and animals.
They laughed as they listened to what others wrote about themselves nine years ago.
"I want to learn to read better," one girl wrote on a piece of paper in her time capsule.
"You need to learn to write better," Meligan laughed.
They were able to talk about how much fun they had when they were in third grade, in middle school, in high school and on Friday as they dug up their time capsules.
They'll always have their memories of their time together, Olson said.