Providence Elementary principal Zac Bauermaster said he wants the school to continue to be a place where students and faculty want to come to and come back to.

Students, teachers, and staff members who were at Providence in the year 2000 are invited to bring their families and return for an open house, which will be held Saturday, April 12, from 9 to 11 a.m. at the school, 137 Truce Road, New Providence.

Tom Brackbill, who started his teaching career at Providence in 1973 and was the school's principal from 1990 to 2004, is among the people planning to attend. "I think this is really neat," he said.

Bauermaster stated he is trying to carry on a tradition established by his predecessors. "One of my goals is for Providence to be a place kids want to come, where teachers want to be, and (a place) families trust and are proud to send their kids. And ultimately a place people want to come back to. I think that's what Mr. Brackbill created."

Bauermaster is expecting to have Son's Italian ice and Maplehofe Dairy chocolate milk for visitors at the open house. "Some of those things people remember and appreciate about the Solanco community," he said.

The principal is happy with the reaction the open house is getting. "It's been neat to see the excitement on posts we've made on social media," Bauermaster said. "I've seen former students saying they should try to come. And that's what I want to see. Maybe they come back and make a weekend out of it and see family who still live around here and friends they haven't seen for a long time."

The highlight of the open house will be the public unveiling of contents placed in time capsules 25 years ago. "In the year 2000, we finished our building project where we added to the build and remodeled the existing part of the building," Brackbill said. "At the end of it, we put together a time capsule and let the students put stuff in it. We said we'd open it in 25 years. ... The 25 years is up, and I'm still alive."

Bill Musser, a project manager for Wohlsen Construction, the company that oversaw the project, was a parent of a Providence student and the PTO president at the time and remembered where the capsules were placed. He and Brackbill are both board members of the Solanco Education Foundation.

There was a time capsule for each grade level, and teachers opened the capsules at a recent faculty meeting. The contents will be placed on tables in the school gym for the open house.

"I think it's important to look at the history and continue that history," Bauermaster said. This year's Providence students will fill their own time capsules to be opened in 2050.

Current students will not attend the open house, but they will create signs to put up around the building to welcome back the former students and teachers. Bauermaster said the students can learn from the experience. "We want to explain to them what we're doing now and look ahead 25 years and get them to think about their goals, their talents, and their ambitions and what they want to do as they get older," he said. "We are creating an environment where they will want to come back in 25 years because they had a great experience."

Ashlee Snider Kreider was a fourth-grader at Providence in 2000 and is now a kindergarten teacher at Clermont Elementary School. Kreider recalls placing items in the time capsule but couldn't remember the specifics until her teaching colleagues at Providence filled her in. "I wrote how I thought I would be married with two children, have an automatic heater and air conditioner, and that I would be a hairdresser," Kreider said. "Some pieces of this came to be. I am married with three children. However, I am not a hairdresser; I am a kindergarten teacher in the Solanco district. I am blessed to have automatic heating and air conditioning."

During her time at Providence, Kreider has recollections of Brackbill kissing a pig as part of an incentive. "Mrs. Montani, Mrs. Banzhof, Mrs. Miller (then Mrs. Wagner), and Mr. Becker inspired me to be teachers," she said. "I also remember how exciting it was to go to the computer lab with Mrs. Beakes because at the time we didn't have a computer in our home. I remember waiting until school to pull a tooth out because I would get to go to the nurse, where I could get an ice pop. Field day each year was always a highlight for me as well."

Bauermaster, a Solanco High graduate who attended Quarryville Elementary School, takes great pride in his hometown area. "We want to create experiences for families to be proud of their Solanco roots," he said. "Solanco is truly a special community and a really unique community. It's a community that comes together to support one another, and the schools become the hubs for providing resources and connecting with families. You develop some special relationships."