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HILLSBOROUGH: Students’ 2004 time capsule is dug up

By Peter Sclafani, Special Writer
  On Tuesday, some members of Hillsborough High School’s Class of 2012 dug up the time capsule they buried at Woods Road School in 2004.
   After frantically searching for the right place to dig, students finally pulled out a white bucket sealed tightly with duct tape.
   Students eagerly ripped the top off the bucket and pulled out pictures and letters they wrote to their future selves eight years ago. About 50 students turned out for the event and to share memories of Woods Road with the current fourth-grade class.
   The high school seniors smiled and laughed to themselves as they read their letters from eight years ago.
   ”It’s weird when it happens; you think, ‘this is me,’” Stephanie Perlitz, a senior, said as she read about the things she used to do when she was in fourth grade. “But now I’m like, I can’t believe I was like that.”
   For some of the students, the unearthing of the capsule drove home the reality of a fast-approaching graduation that will mark the end of a chapter in their young lives.
   In fourth grade, graduating from high school seemed like it was an eternity away, but “now it is starting to become real,” senior Alison Kraehenbuehl said.
   In the frenzy of committing to schools, taking finals and preparing for graduation, students got to take a break and look back to a time when playing with Legos and watching cartoons were the most important parts of the day.
   Principal Jodi Howe hopes the opening of the time capsule will help restart a tradition that stopped in 2008.
   The current fourth-grade class at Woods Road got the chance to ask this year’s seniors about what it’s like to go to high school and what Woods Road was like in 2004.
   One girl asked if the school was different now. Another asked if it was hard to use lockers and if fifth grade is a lot harder than fourth.
   The seniors smiled and laughed at some of the questions as they remembered what it was like to attend Woods Road.
   ”It’s nice to remember the fun moments from when we were here and remember what it was like to be a kid,” Alexis Koerner said.
   Even though eight years have passed since he was in the class that buried its time capsule, Alex Esposito said there are things about him that will never change.
   ”It’s crazy to see how much I’ve grown up,” he said. “Nonetheless, I still love Wayne’s World.”