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Managing Editor CHICOPEE A dedication program, a roll of film, several newspaper clippings and copies of the list of teachers and the basketball schedule were among the items in the time capsule opened last week at Chicopee Comprehensive High School. The time capsule was in the cornerstone of the old Comp, which is now to be demolished to make room for the new school's playing field. The copper box was pried open with a screwdriver and a group of students joined Comp Principal Stanley Kozikowski and Mayor Michael Bissonnette among others in examining the artifacts. Kozikowski admitted he has his doubts that any objects were in the cornerstone marked "1961." He explained the construction began in 1961 and was completed with the opening of the old Comp in 1962. Although the newspaper clippings, class and teacher list and sports schedule were still readable, there had been some water damager over the 45 years. The roll of 35mm film had apparently disintegrated. Mitchell Kuzdzal was among those present at the opening of the time capsule. Kuzdzal started his teaching career at Chicopee High School in 1953 and transferred to the first Chicopee Comp when it opened in 1962. He retired from teaching and administrative positions in 1995. Noting the changes in education, Kuzdzal said, "Things have changed radically." He said that when Comp opened in 1962, its classrooms might have been state-of-the-art for that time, but some of the machinery in its vocational shops was not. The belt-driven machines he had been trained on in 1942 in a program for the national Youth Administration were used at Comp 20 years later. He recalled that in 1979 he asked the School Committee to approve his request to buy the high school's first computers. He was given that approval, but one member wanted an update at the end of the year with what Kuzdzal had done with "his toys." He had praise for the new Comp with its up-to-date vocational shops and other facilities. "We're modern today," he said. | ||||||
