Ten years ago, around the time of Y2K, certain Dowagiac Union High School seniors were second graders taught at Sister Lakes Elementary School by Phyllis Petersen.

The 12th graders met with Mrs. Petersen Friday morning at DUHS for hugs and to open the time capsule they packed because it was 2000.

Many of them wear the official orange-and-black senior shirt of the Class of 2010, calling graduation “the day I realized I just spent 113,800 hours to receive a piece of paper and a handshake.”

Were they selecting items today for a time capsule, they might enclose some of the bracelets, like Livestrong, instead of the Pokemon cards of their youth.

Keeping in mind that’s cyclist Lance Armstrong, cancer survivor, not Neal Armstrong, first man to walk on the moon in 1969.

Confusion momentarily ripples around the table.

They might not admit it now, but they watched “Rugrats,” too.

The time capsule outlived the gift shop of The Museum at Southwestern Michigan College, where Petersen purchased it.

More items than seem possible spill out of the pill-shaped container, including snapshots of field trips to Wick’s Apple House and the Sister Lakes fire station and essays each child penned and clipped with their photos.

Laughter fills the room at the sight of their pint-sized profiles and different hairdos. “Look at that bowl cut!” one young man exclaims.

“Square pizza” in the lunchroom is another fond memory, along with the playground game box hockey.

A movie which made the list is “The Haunting.”

Rebeca Villegas no longer remembers the game she listed as her favorite.

Drew Cripe looked forward in his to a day he could tell everyone what to do.

Their teacher encourages them to invite the whole class to repack it with graduation mementos for reopening at a reunion.

“They were a great bunch of kids,” Mrs. Petersen said.

“They still are,” says their current Principal Paul Hartsig, who called the reunion “the coolest half hour of the day.”