The sealed envelopes could contain messages of hopes and dreams.
They might chronicle the struggles of adolescence, or give a little insight into what life in Upper Arlington was like in the 1950s.
But for about 60 years, 22 handwritten letters, authored by seventh graders at Jones Middle School, sat unread inside a cubby hole of now 86-year-old Mary McKinney s desk.
In 1959 and 1960, the retired teacher asked her students to write a letter to themselves, seal it and address it to their home or the home of a family member. McKinney promised to mail the letters back to them in 10 years, so they could see how much they had changed.