'Oh the memories': WHS seniors look back at time capsule created in third grade

MASSILLON – While exploring the remnants of nearly 70 years of education of Gorrell Elementary School, teachers found a plastic box in the attic.

Inside was a snapshot of a different time. The box was filled with pictures of the third grade class from the 2014-15 school year.

Those students are getting ready to walk across the stage on Tuesday to receive their high school diplomas.

Recently, students were reunited with their former third grade teachers — Eileen Sirgo, Tammy Sorensen, Nancy Hrynko, Melissa Panagopoulos and Geri Seifert — who shared the contents of the box with the students.

"It's been so interesting to see what they wanted to be and their pictures," Sorensen said.

Sirgo, who now teaches kindergarten at Gorrell, told the students she felt bad that they didn't do the project with any of their other third grade classes.

"I guess you guys are special," she joked.

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'Why did my hair look like that?"

Class by class, student by student, each teacher called a student's name and handed them their photo and questionnaire they each filled out.

Some of the students no longer attended Massillon City Schools, others couldn't attend because they were taking AP end-of-they year exams.

For those in attendance, it was a walk back in time.

"Why did my hair look like that?" one student could be heard asking friends.

Other chuckled as they gathered around their classmates checking out their answers to who was their best friend and their favorite books and movies.

"Dork Diaries" was among their favorite read and "Frozen" and "The Lego Movie" topped the movie favs. Their top destinations to visit: Great Wolf Lodge, Castaway Bay and the Akron Zoo.

'It makes me want to cry.'

Another question: What do you want to be when you grow up?

Senior Allie Wilbur knew she wanted to be a nurse. She will attend Aultman College for nursing after graduation.

While some of her favorites remained the same — like Swedish meatballs as her favorite dish — others have changed. Her favorite animal is no longer a tiger, nor is her best friend the same.

"It's fun," Wilbur said. "I remember going outside and holding the blackboard for my picture."

Tatiana Moore posed for a picture with her third grade teacher Gerri Seifert.

In third grade, she wanted to be a teacher but things changed and she obtained her cosmetologist license. She's already working at The Beauty Bodega.

"It's so cool," Moore said while looking at her third grade handprint. "It makes me want to cry."

Seifert gushed over her former student, adding she knows where she'll be getting her hair done.

"Oh the memories," she said. "She's turned into such a beautiful young thing."

Besides the photos, handprints and questionnaires, the box also included an edition of the May 22, 2015, Independent and a story written by the classes using candy bars as characters. It tells the story of Hershey and how he was kidnapped by the Kit Kat Gang and taken to Skittles Island.

"I just love reading these," Sirgo said.

Reach Amy at 330-775-1135 or amy.knapp@indeonline.com.

This article originally appeared on The Independent: WHS seniors get glimpse of life in third grade with time capsule