| OTIA III State Bridge Delivery Program |
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| Web Brief (Apr 08) |
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Elkton mayor helps pack school time capsule
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ODOT helps Elkton students look to the future
At a March 19 assembly celebrating the contribution of Elkton students to a bridge program project, ODOT and the students participated in a tradition that stretches back to ancient Mesopotamia: They made a time capsule of their daily lives in 2008.
Members of each Elkton school class from preschool through grade 12 contributed an item for the foot-square time capsule, a wooden box that won’t be opened for 75 years. Next September, the capsule will be placed inside one of four pylons that will decorate the entrances to nearby Elk Creek Bridge. ODOT included the students in its bridge rebuilding efforts as part of public involvement for the OTIA III State Bridge Delivery Program.
From the preschoolers’ poem to the eighth graders’ can of Silly String—“Because we stick together no matter what”—each grade selected an item for the time capsule that reflected their combined personalities. For historians, time capsules are more valuable if they contain items that reflect the day-to-day life of the people who assembled them, as well as some decoding information about the contributors, so the Elkton students’ choices were right on target. They included such artifacts of 2008 life as a can of energy drink, symbolizing the ninth graders’ vigor, and a DVD of the sixth graders’ favorite video games and movies.
The assembly was also the occasion for Slayden Construction project manager Larry Gescher to bestow the $500 prize he offered when encouraging Elkton High School students to design the pylons. That award went to Richard Sanchez, whose design incorporated a Douglas fir log, representing the local timber industry, and other features of the region. Sanchez accepted his award to resounding cheers and applause from the entire student body.
“We really appreciate your participation,” Gescher said. “If we do our jobs right, the pylons will look just like they do on paper.”
Besides the time capsule items, one further surprise remained, as Anthony Calcagno, an engineer with bridge design consultant TY Lin, presented the students’ art teacher, Debbie Williams, with an additional $500 to put toward art supplies.
“You are our future. When the time capsule is opened, some of you may still be around,” Williams told the students as she accepted the gift.
Amazingly, when the tenth-graders chose their contribution, they were already thinking ahead to that date in 2083. According to their spokesman, as he dropped a set of Mr. Potato Head lips into the wooden box, “We put this in because everyone wants to kiss us, and hopefully when we’re 90, they still will.”
Since the lifespan of a highway bridge is also 75 years, no doubt some future ODOT bridge inspector will be there when the capsule is opened, ready to work with the next generation of Elkton residents on a project that reflects local pride and ownership and statewide concern for safety and mobility.
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