"What should we put in our time capsule to give BH-BL High School students and staff in 2057 a good idea of what life is like in 2007?"

This is the question that Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake students have been working on ever since last fall when they opened and decided to replace a time capsule that had been buried inside their school cornerstone in 1954.

The original time capsule was apparently buried and forgotten when the high school was built, only to be uncovered during construction of a new school entryway during the summer of 2006.

However, when Student Government Organization (SGO) president Evan Walsh and teacher and town of Ballston historian Rick Reynolds pried open that time capsule, its contents were pretty dry, dusty and disappointing -- consisting mostly of documents and newspaper clippings about the cost and construction of the original school in the 1950s, with no information or insights into student life during that era.

Walsh and his fellow students of 2007 decided to change that for the next time capsule. With help from Mr. Reynolds and SGO advisor Jessica Fedoroff, student leaders came up with ideas of what to include in the new time capsule and had the student body vote on them. Items in the capsule needed to be non-perishable, fairly self-explanatory, and to contain no materials (like batteries) that could leak or damage other capsule contents.

At an assembly on May 31, the entire 1,140-student body got to see the results of their vote. Items that will go in the new time capsule were all laid out on a table and described in a Powerpoint show made by senior class president Luciano Fraioli.

     Click here to view this show (Warning to dial-up users: huge pdf file)

Superintendent Jim Schultz read the students a letter he is enclosing addressed to the students of the future.

     Click here to hear a 10-minute audiotape of this and other speakers from the assembly (Warning to dial-up users: huge mp3 file)

The new acid-free time capsule (above) and its contents.

All the time capsule items will now be put in a school display cabinet for a few weeks so that everyone can see them before they are sealed up in the new capsule for 50 years.

Another highlight of the May 31 assembly was the presentation of a check for $1,116 from members of the BH-BL Classes of 1948, 1949 and 1950. 

Alumni Bev Oudt, Class of '48 (above left), James "Mac" McFarland, Class of '48, and Phyllis Brandt, Class of '49, were on hand to enjoy the time capsule ceremony and hand over check, which will be used to add a wireless sound system to the school library (which also serves as a community and Board of Education meeting space).