Former art teacher Sue Mohney returned to view the items her students placed inside.

Nearly 30 years ago, young art students sealed away pieces of their lives inside a time capsule at Charleroi Elementary Center.

Last week, community members, teachers and former students gathered to reopen it — uncovering handwritten letters, toys and memories frozen in time since 1997.

The capsule, hidden in the ceiling for decades, was originally created during former elementary art teacher Sue Mohney’s summer art camp, “Finding the Future.”

Participants in the camp filled it with personal items, letters and keepsakes before it was sealed away.

No one knew exactly what remained inside until Wednesday evening, when Mohney returned to help open it for the first time alongside current Charleroi Area School District art teacher Patrick Camut and several former students who participated in the project as children.

Among them was Kaitlyn Kyle, who attended the camp in 1997 and still remembers contributing to the capsule nearly three decades ago.

Kyle held a wax mold of her childhood hand that she created during the camp as she reunited with Mohney and reflected on the experience.

The event was made more meaningful for Camut because of the connections formed across generations.

“I think it’s proof that your impact can last beyond your career so always try to make it count,” he said.

It was personal for him. Although he did not attend the summer camp that created the capsule, he had Mohney as a teacher and credits her as one of the reasons he became an educator himself.

“She continues to inspire me and it was very rewarding being apart of a moment,” Camut said. “She may be retired, but will always be our elementary art teacher and all her former students still respect her and the lessons she taught.”

As the capsule was opened, attendees sifted through artifacts that instantly transported many back to the late 1990s.

“The letters students wrote felt like we were taken to the past and

Mon Valley Independent

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