Time Capsule Tradition Continues at Tabor

It’s not every day that the Head of School lays on the ground for a selfie, but the placing of a Time Capsule is the perfect occasion. On Friday, April 14, 2023, a small group gathered for the official placement of the Travis Roy Campus Center Time Capsule— which was placed in the ground on the Benenson Terrace, under the 2023 stone. The Time Capsule was first introduced at the Opening of the Campus Center, and Head of School Tony Jaccaci shared that this capsule is the continuation of a tradition of time capsules at Tabor.

When Tabor made the decision to take down the Charles Hayden Library in order to construct the Travis Roy Campus Center, that meant retrieving the Hayden Time Capsule. Becky Love Macomber from Tabor’s Advancement office helped retrieve the copper box that had been placed in Hayden’s cornerstone in 1956. There’s a special connection she and her family have to the building’s beginnings and through a video created in 2021, she helped pay tribute to not only the history, but also the people who made the space more than just a building. Additional time capsules exist at Fish Athletic Center and Wickenden Chapel.

The Time Capsule is hoped to be opened in 2076, during Tabor’s 200th anniversary— when the current ninth grade, the Class of 2026, will celebrate their 50th reunion.

Great care went into the decisions on what to include in the Time Capsule for the 200th anniversary. Two surveys, sent in spring of 2021 and fall of 2022, gathered input from 215 students, faculty, staff, and alumni.

• Documentation of the 1956 Time Capsule will be included, showing when it was first placed and when it was opened. 
• Students agreed that having experienced life during a pandemic was an important part of life in the early 2020s. As such, a KN95 mask and a cloth Sammy the Seawolf mask are included.
• This is the Travis Roy Campus Center, and as such, included is a t-shirt of Travis Roy’s 10 Rules for Life, a Bookmark with his 10 Rules, and a set of the Travis Roy stickers that were handed out at the opening ceremony.
• Items such as a foam finger with Sammy on it, a plush and a foam Sammy, and a variety of spirit items ranging from pens and pennants to tees and lanyards are included.
• Included are a variety of publications illustrating what life is like at Tabor today, including the Tabor Today magazine, the most recent of which includes a feature story on the construction of the Travis Roy Campus Center, and admissions materials, brochures, school profiles, the yearbook, Bowsprit literary magazine, and the 2022-2023 Directory (aka Look Book or Mug Book).
• To showcase arts and athletics at Tabor now, included are an athletic uniform, copies of the most recent student performance programs from dance and drama, and examples of the Pop-Up Art that is often found around campus in the spring. The sailing burgee flag is also included.
• Coins were collected from the varying countries Tabor students call home to represent Tabor’s international community.
• A prox card was created for Sammy the Seawolf, which today also counts as a form of payment at Tabor. Students can use their prox card to spend Tabor Bucks and purchase items on campus. On the prox card, Sammy’s birthday is listed as 08-22-1989. This date was chosen because August 22^nd represents the birthday of founder Elizabeth Taber, and 1989 represents the time when the first drawing of Sammy the Seawolf became the official mascot, replacing the previous mascot of the Midshipmen. 
• Included are buttons, stickers, and documentation representing the affinity groups on today’s campus.
• Food is an important part of life at Tabor, and included are recipes for Chef Andrew’s Gingerbread and Chicken Maryland, two beloved Tabor treats.
• A variety of photographs have been included to represent the campus, student life, the coastline, Tabor Boy, and academics as they stand today.
• In October 2022, students were invited to make predictions for the future, which were compiled and added to the Time Capsule. Many of these predictions were shared during an All-School Meeting in February 2023.
• Lastly, vials of Sippican Harbor water and sand were preserved and included.