Time capsules at Westmoreland Intermediate Unit lock up items until 2072

Several hallmarks of 2022 were placed in a time capsule by Hempfield Area students for others to find in 50 years.

Among them were a smartphone, a blank vaccine card, and gift cards to various stores and a movie theater that might not exist in five decades.

Superintendent Tammy Wolicki said high school student council members chose the items, with the help of sponsor Ryan Wuslich and their middle school counterparts, to include in the capsule that was dedicated Friday at the Westmoreland Intermediate Unit.

Students put a lot of thought into it and creatively came up with ways to include items that are digital by laminating copies of a QR code and the logo for TikTok, a smartphone app, Wolicki said.

“I think it’s a neat way for those who open it in the future to see what was important to our students,” she said.

A trophy case time capsule at the Westmoreland Intermediate Unit holding 74 small boxes from schools and programs across the county and intermediate units throughout the state will be sealed until Feb. 25, 2072. The project was part of a celebration of the 50th anniversary of intermediate units’ service statewide.

Each box is labeled with the entity it represents. Students from Clairview School unveiled the time capsule during a ceremony that was held in-person and virtually. The event was recorded for leaders in 2072 to watch. The Fred Rogers Center was presented with the Pennsylvania Association of Intermediate Units’ Friend of Education Award during the event.

The state’s 29 intermediate units focus on special education needs and work with member school districts on a variety of matters that can help with staffing and purchasing. More recently, they set up coronavirus vaccine clinics for teachers.

“This could not have been done without our intermediate units and executive directors,” said Sherri Smith, deputy secretary at the state department of education.

Rapid innovation to improve educational instruction has been an important responsibility of intermediate units, said Mark Hoffman, director of Bucks County Intermediate Unit and president of the Pennsylvania Association of Intermediate Units. He expected that agencies over the next 50 years will keep up with that spirit and might find things in the time capsule that are foreign to them.

Westmoreland Intermediate Unit director Jason Conway joked that those watching the recording in 2072 might find the dress and hairstyles of 2022 odd.

“Yes, this is how we look,” he said.

The time capsule will be housed in the Hempfield building’s lobby for the next 50 years. Conway said he hopes the creation of it helped others consider what impact they have in their communities and what they will leave behind.

Conway has a key to the case he plans to pass down to his successor, though he has said he hopes to attend the time capsule opening in 2072.

“It’s events like today that make you think about your own mortality,” he said.