EGG HARBOR CITY – In June 2000, students, faculty and staff of Saint Nicholas School buried a time capsule filled with mementos from each class.
In June 2025, some of those same students were on hand when it was retrieved.
The event, held June 22 at Saint Nicholas Church – located behind the now-closed school – was part of Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish’s celebration in honor of the feast of Corpus Christi. It followed a bilingual Mass and procession.
The time capsule was buried in June 2000 during the Church’s Great Jubilee Year. Each grade at the school contributed a labeled freezer bag containing items that represented their experiences, memories and culture of the time.
A group of former students helped dig up the time capsule, and alumna Kaitlyn Cheung opened each freezer bag and presented the capsule’s contents to the crowd during the celebration.
Among the time capsule’s treasures: a postcard from the eighth-grade class trip to Washington, D.C.; Beanie Babies; class photos; a yearbook; an American flag signed by the kindergarten class; an ice pack from the school nurse; various awards; a Thanksgiving poster created by sixth-graders; the school’s mission statement; newspaper clippings, and T-shirts signed by entire classes and the PTA Board.
The capsule’s location was marked with a label: “St. Nicholas School Millennium Time Capsule. Open in June 2025.”
Saint Nicholas School was a central part of the Egg Harbor City community until its closure in 2008. The adjoining Saint Nicholas Church remains an active worship site for Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish. This year marks the 160th anniversary of both the church and the original school, first founded in 1864.
After waiting more than two decades, parishioners, former faculty and staff and alumni and their families gathered in the blazing sun to reconnect and reminisce.
Iraisa Ann Reilly, now 35, was a fifth-grader when the time capsule was buried. “I remember going around the school property and recording to place a tape in the capsule.”
Reilly and her classmates have maintained a close bond over the years, gathering annually on June 13 to celebrate their eighth-grade graduation.
“We bring up the time capsule almost every year,” said Victoria Shertel, 36.
The idea for the capsule was born out of a previous effort. In 1988, students and staff buried a time capsule that was to be opened in 2000. However, moisture damaged many of the items. Inspired to try again with better preservation methods, the kindergarten teacher at the time suggested a new capsule be buried for the next Jubilee year. The Church is currently in the Jubilee Year Pilgrims of Hope.
The capsule, sealed more securely this time with duct tape, was stored in the same pipe used in 1988. More than 100 students from pre-K through eighth grade contributed, said Kristy Torres, a bookkeeper in 2001. She is also Cheung’s mother.
Torres helped organize the event and crafted special lanyards for former students that had their yearbook picture.
“The kids just had a bond that was unique, and they’re all still friends all these years later,” she said.
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