Thomas Holme Elementary School, 9125 Academy Road, recently filled a time capsule in celebration of the progress being made in construction of a new school building.
Students and staff moved to the former Austin Meehan Middle School for the 2023-24 academic year and remain there as construction is ongoing.
Micah Winterstein, in his second year as principal, said they’ll remain there until the new school is ready in January 2026.
Winterstein was joined at the time capsule event by School District of Philadelphia Superintendent Tony Watlington; Board of Education President Reginald Streater; and Oz Hill, the deputy superintendent of operations.
School officials found a time capsule in the cornerstone from when the school was built in 1950 when demolition began, but its contents had disintegrated.
Winterstein said the school decided on seven items for the time capsule:
• A picture of students and staff
• A T-shirt from the school’s production of Dreamgirls
• A piece of brick from the original building
• A list of the top 10 movies of 2025
• A list of the top 10 songs of 2025
• A laminated PDF of the Inquirer page after the Eagles won Super Bowl LIX in New Orleans, with the headline Big Easy
• A laminated PDF of the Northeast Times story on the new school’s groundbreaking
Among the other items that were included in the capsule were the Driscoll Dispatch, a newsletter from City Councilman Mike Driscoll, and a brochure for state Rep. Ed Neilson, a Holme graduate.
The time capsule will be placed in a trophy display case that will be located near the front entrance of the school.
The school construction is 60 percent done, according to Streater.
“I can’t wait to come back to the actual grand opening,” Watlington said.
When the new three-story school opens, it will have more than 1,300 students in pre-kindergarten through eighth grade. The construction cost is about $90 million. ••
