BILLINGS — Highland Elementary School students in Billings 25 years ago buried a time capsule inside of a glass table outside of the school. On Friday, after a quarter of a century, those items were unveiled, revealing to former and current school staff what was popular during the time.
In a miraculous turn of events, former student Elliott Hawkins happened to be driving down Park Hill Drive when he noticed a surprising and unexpected event happening at the school.
See pop culture items from the 1999-2000 school year in the video below:
"I happened to be driving past the school and saw they were taking the lid off the time capsule, which I wondered about for years and years, and always meant to call and see when they were going to do it," said Hawkins on Friday.
Hawkins recently moved back to Billings after living in Arizona for 13 years. He told MTN that he didn't know the event was happening and just happened to be on his way to his grandfather's house when he noticed the time capsule being opened.
"It brings back a lot of good memories. I've been waiting to see what we put in there for a long time," he said.
The time capsule included class photos, Beanie Babies, VHS tapes, a kite, Polaroid photos of when the time capsule was installed in 2000, and letters the students wrote to future students (of course, written in cursive).
"It feels great. It just kind of feels like the puzzle piece went back in the right place," said Hawkins.
"I wasn't quite sure what kind of audience we would have today, and then the rain started coming down super hard, and (I) wasn't sure if we could pull it off today," said Justin Huck, the principal of Highland Elementary School. "So, to have somebody who was part of Highland at that time was very intriguing, and I'm glad that he was able to be a part of that today, as well."
Hawkins is now 35, and he said he vividly remembers contributing to the time capsule in the fourth grade, along with the rest of the school.
MTN asked Hawkins what was his favorite part about being a student at Highland.
"Definitely Mrs. Dahlner's class, fourth grade, yeah the year that we put the stuff into the time capsule. She was such an amazing teacher, and then that year was a third grade, fourth grade combo. So, I got to be in it with my cousin who was a year below me. So it was so much fun," he said.
Huck even said there was a chance that future Highland students will be opening another time capsule in 2050.
"It's always exciting to get nostalgic and reminisce on the past a little bit... Definitely makes you think about, how do you preserve the present so, you know, you can share it with the future," Huck said.
