Olivenhain Pioneer students ready time capsule

In 20 years, what will be remembered from today? Apparently, plush toys called Beanie Boos, Disney’s “Frozen,” iPads and more.

Mementos that will go into an Olivenhain Pioneer time capsule were unveiled during a March 27 assembly. A capsule will be buried sometime this year, and during the 2034-35 school year, it will be dug up.

School officials will also add items to it from Olivenhain Pioneer’s 1994 time capsule. Unearthed last fall, it included Rollerblades, the horror book series “Goosebumps” and Pogs, a game played with cardboard discs.

“It will show what was popular here and now and way back then,” Principal Beth Cameron said shortly after the assembly. She added it’s a bit strange to think today’s sixth-graders will be 31 or 32 years old when it’s finally opened.

Each grade contributed an item to the time capsule. First graders, for instance, submitted an empty box for “Minecraft,” an open-ended video game that lets players build their own little worlds.

An empty box for a GoPro video camera, iPhone and iPad also gave a snapshot of today’s electronics.

Fourth-graders picked a book from the “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” series, noting it’s especially popular right now.

“Books might not be read in the future, only if they’re digital,” said a fourth-grader during the assembly. “But guess what, future people — that book is not digital.”

When asked by a reporter from the Encinitas Advocate what will change in two decades, fifth-grader Ava Bern answered technology.

“They probably won’t have any iPads,” said Bern, who is on the Olivenhain Pioneer Student Council. “They might have a screen that pops up out of nowhere and can do all sorts of things.”

Georgia Patyn, another fifth-grader who’s also on the student council, said that the students did a good job picking what’s popular right now. As examples, she cited “Frozen” and a cardboard poster with emojis — digital characters that users include in text messages, social media posts and more.

Both fifth-graders said they would like to return when the time capsule is excavated in 20 years, adding the thought of being 30 years old is scary.

After pulling up the 1994 capsule, school officials decided to create a new one.

“We wanted to turn this into a tradition,” Cameron said.

The assembly was held with a ceremonial time capsule in order to get pictures for the 2014-15 yearbook that will soon go to print. School officials are looking online for a waterproof time capsule to house the mementos. Once secured, it will probably be buried in front of the school, where the 1994 capsule was.

“There’s still a hole where the old one was dug up,” Cameron said. “The ground is still soft there.”

She noted the new capsule should be easier to unseal than the old one, a 200-pound water pipe that took industrial tools to pry open.

Last fall, former students and school administrators recalled that in 1994, the surrounding area was sparsely populated and cows would venture onto the playground once in a while. Student accounts from the 20-year-old capsule also said that video games and computers were gaining in popularity.

What will 2015 be noted for?

Cameron believes the school will be remembered for spearheading various environmental initiatives in recent years, like its school gardens, water-conservation program and student-created stormwater prevention plans.

“What I want to be remembered for is we’re leaders, innovators and we look at initiatives to help the environment,” Cameron said.