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District celebrates new TES with handful of ceremonies

By Staff | Oct 28, 2015

It was a busy morning Saturday at Tonganoxie Elementary School.

Tonganoxie USD 464 had a celebration, complete with ribbon cutting, dedication of an American flag, a time capsule and other activities.

The TES Chorusters sang to the crowd, while the Daughters of the American Revolution donated a crabapple tree to be planted on the new campus.

Kara Reed, a member of DAR, spoke to the crowd about the organization during the deication.

Last week, school officials were gathering items to place in a cylinder time capsule that as to be placed near the flagpole.

Faculty and staff placed newspapers, a Kansas City Royals hat, Tonganoxie hat, TES T-shirt, the Fairness giraffe from the counseling department. Former counselor Connie Weltha passed the giraffe onto current counselor Katie Welsh.

There also were a couple cell phones and pieces of the former school building included in the capsule, along with cultural references.

A Jar Jar Binks figurine in honor of the new “Star Wars” movie coming out in December. There also is a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles poster in the capsule.

There even is a scooter from the physical education department. Not quite a hover board, as was the mode of transporation for 2015 according to the 1989 film “Back to the Future II.”

TES principal Ty Poell said the capsule would be buried when workers can pour concrete.

In the meantime, he will keep the capsule in the school for safe-keeping.

“There were a number of thigns we put in there,” Poell said. “We filled that baby.”

USD 464 board president Dan Hopkins led the Pledge of Allegiance and introduced the VFW.

There was a rough estimate that about 100 people were in attendance.

“I thought it was well-attended for a windy, cold Saturday morning,” Poell said.

The school opened up in August. District patrons approved a bond issue in 2012 for the new school, which is home to grades kindergarten trhough fifth grade. The neighboring Tonganoxie Middle School is home to grades 6-8.

First concert in new gymnasium

TES will have its first concert in the school’s main gymnasium.

The fifth-grade music concernt will be Nov. 5. Poell said the youths will peform on the stage in the gymnasium. The district’s former elementary school did not have a stage.