Chugiak High Class of 1976 opens time capsule, awakening decades-long memories

May 10 — In 1976, the graduating class of Chugiak High School buried a time capsule, a project coordinated with the United States Bicentennial.

On Friday, alumni gathered to unseal the capsule, and it didn’t take long for the former students to realize that they had weathered the last 50 years better than most of the contents of the 15-gallon drum.

Standing on the stage of the Chugiak High School auditorium, a group of about 20 classmates pulled a tattered bag from the drum and unloaded its largely decomposed contents onto a table.

“You could tell what was going to be in it and it was going to be mush,” said Roland Wierzbicki, a 1976 graduate. “And when I opened it, yes, there was a lot of mush, but there were some good memories in it.”

Although many items have deteriorated, notably the various paper maps, tickets and newspaper, some have survived.

Wierzbicki and the other classmates, donning blue rubber gloves to dig through the remains, brought out a flag, a hockey puck, a rattle, audio cassettes and more.

Although the details were fuzzy for most, some of the approximately 177 graduates that year barely remembered the project.

“Normally your long-term memory is there, but some of us don’t even remember it,” Diane Buls said.

Even among those who remembered the project, very few had any idea what the capsule might contain.

“Fifty years is a long time,” Wierzbicki said.

Jan Davis, who graduated from Chugiak High under the name Janice Kruger, said the capsule is a true window into the fleeting final days of high school.

“None of us wrote anything,” she said. “But it’s exciting. It’s funny to see what we buried, how badly we buried it.”

Interruptions in the capsule’s underground existence likely contributed to its condition.

Chugiak Principal Megan Hatswell said at least two subsequent classes discovered the capsule to be a prank. Several of the signatures on the red, white and blue container were accompanied by the year 1984.

In an attempt to stop future hijackings, the capsule was eventually locked underground in the courtyard of the school, named after former teacher Andy Kirk.

Kirk, who was a highly regarded social studies and government teacher, also advised the student government, which helped coordinate the burial of the time capsule. So the red, white and blue color palette was everywhere, from the bicentennial flag to the other capsule adornments.

Removing it from the ground was no easy task for the maintenance workers.

“They started with the jackhammers, and after 3 1/2 hours we found the top of the capsule which we then had to dig out,” Hatswell said. “And the person who was working on it said it was kind of like a clam. You just have to keep digging.”

Plans to remove and reconnaissance the capsule began in the fall, according to Hatswell. She said there were no explicit instructions, so she and other school officials proceeded as best they could.

Chugiak High’s Class of 2026 also plans to bury its own capsule as part of the America250 celebration.

“As we prepare to finish this one, I will certainly leave instructions for whoever is in this position 50 years from now,” she said.

Wierzbicki, who still lives in Alaska, said being able to connect with old classmates was a real treat.

“It’s pretty cool, especially meeting a lot of people that I knew back then,” Wierzbicki said. “We don’t see each other very often, so it’s really special to see some of my friends.”

Davis, who now lives in Salem, Oregon, tries to make it a point to log in every time she returns.

“It’s great,” she said. “I don’t live here anymore, so when I come back, I always send a message to people and I’m the one saying, let’s all meet up somewhere.”

While opening the capsule didn’t trigger as many memories as if everything had been in perfect condition, the return of the 1976 classmates still felt like a milestone.

“It’s always fun to see people come back and feel like they came home for something or feel like Chugiak High School was a really big part of who they were,” Hatswell said. “I think that’s what education is, and that’s what community is.”