Finding a Surprise Message in a Bottle
In 1998, a fourth grader named Makenzie Van Eyk from Ontario, Canada had a fun school project: to write a message in a bottle and throw it in the lake. This school project was of course forgotten.
That is until 26 years later when the sealed bottle was found and given to a school teacher. If that wasn’t magical enough, the teacher decided to read it to her fourth grade class, according to People. And who was in that class? Scarlett, Van Eyk’s daughter!
A message from the past
River Vandenberg, a student at St John the Baptist Catholic Elementary School in Belle River, Ontario, found the bottle while exploring Lake St Claire with his grandmother, according to Smithsonian Magazine,. He read the carefully preserved letter and decided to bring it to his school.
It is the same school Van Eyk had attended as a child and that Scarlett attends. And after the teacher read the message to the class and Scarlett recognized the name of the writer, the magical story was revealed.
For Van Eyk, who had forgotten all about the bottle and the message in it from so long ago, the events couldn’t have been more surprising. The fact that the bottle and the message lasted that long, stayed preserved and readable, got to land, made it to the hands of a student of her old school and eventually was read to her own daughter, all of these events are nothing short of miraculous.
The teacher who had assigned the project was also emotional by the story, as he commented on the Tube video by Inside Edition. His goal was to have the class do a meaningful project after learning about the Great Lakes. Each student sealed their bottle with wax, which explains how the bottle lasted as long as it did, and dropped it into the lake.
A lesson for the present
Some bottles, Smithsonian Magazine reported, were found after a few months. The others were forgotten, a sweet memory left in the past.
Interestingly enough, this story also shows very clearly how the plastic bottle didn’’t break down during those 26 years. The story is a good lesson about being more conscious of the environment and it is a clear reminder of how long plastic lasts in the ecosystem and the importance of recycling it.
The message in a bottle from so long ago not only gave hope and a beautiful connection between past and present to Van Eyk, Scarlett and their whole family. It also serves as a reminder of the impact a teacher can make, how every action can make a difference for years to come.
