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Time capsule from 1992 dug up in La Mesa

Newspapers, photos depicting life in the 90s and a cassette tape were among some of the items found inside.

LA MESA, Calif. — For many us, the 1990s feel like just yesterday, but for others the decade can seem and feel like a lifetime ago.

On Monday, the La Mesa Youth Advisory Commission unearthed a time capsule buried back in 1992.

The time capsule was originally meant to be opened in 2020, but the pandemic forced organizers to delays its opening.

Newspapers, photos depicting life in the 90s and a cassette tape were among some of the items found inside.

The crowd erupted into cheers as it greeted the capsule hidden underneath the earth for the past 31 years.

"Awesome experience, excited to be here. Super blessed to be able to share it with my daughter who’s 14," said Brooke Baker, who was part of the original youth commissioners in 1992.

Baker was just 9 years old when she and other students with the La Mesa Youth Academy Commission pack the capsule in 1992.

The items were dug up Monday by a new generation of students.

"I think it was really awesome to see the items in the 1992 time capsule," said youth commissioner, Zaida Donnelly.

Inside, students found newspaper articles – like this one from the Union Tribune titled ‘Reagan Rallies GOP hopes.'

An album filled with photos of the students found inside also had handwritten messages and notes about what they thought life in the year 2020 would look like.

A cassette tape was also found, although what’s in it, has yet be uncovered. It was 16-year-old Zaida Donnelly‘s first time seeing one.

"I think it was really awesome to find the cassette tape and just differences in the way they lived. I've never seen one before, I called it a VHS tape cause I was so unsure," she said.

City councilmembers form then and now, including former and current La Mesa mayors were in attendance.

Now, the time has come for the new generation of youth commissioners to create a new time capsule with memories from the 2020’s – including pandemic highlights. 

"I think the pandemic had so much to do with our lives over the past few years, especially with youth losing a lot of our in-person schooling and socialization and it kind of just changed life in general. that’s why we have items like masks, hand sanitizer... we were thinking about putting toilet paper cause of the beginning of the pandemic and that shortage," added Donnelly.

"It's huge, its been like 2 and a half years of our life. It's crazy to think about the time. but the pandemic has changed our lives," said Baker.

The new time capsule is scheduled to be dug up in year 2050.

WATCH RELATED: 'All we need is love' | Inside look at newly rebuilt Union Bank in La Mesa after 2020 riots (Dec. 2022).

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