Lowcountry child’s award-winning essay sealed in America’s 250th anniversary time capsule

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) — Most 12-year-olds spend their summers thinking about baseball, the beach or the start of a new school year.

Milo Bhushan, however, has been thinking about what America might look like 250 years from now.

The Lowcountry middle schooler recently learned that the award-winning essay he wrote two years ago has been placed inside a time capsule in Philadelphia as part of America’s 250th anniversary celebration. The capsule is scheduled to be opened in the year 2276, allowing future generations to read the words of a boy who hopes they never lose sight of the country’s founding ideals.

“It’s just still so hard to believe,” Milo said.

Milo first captured national attention at age 10 after winning America’s Field Trip, a nationwide contest encouraging students to answer a simple but profound question: What does America mean to you?

His response stood out for its unique comparison between America and chemistry.

“The word chemistry means cast together and I think that’s what America means too,” Milo wrote. “America means immigrants like my grandparents are cast together like atoms, constantly breaking old bonds and making new ones.”

Rather than describing America as a melting pot, Milo compared the country to a blast furnace.

“You’ve probably heard the phrase, ‘America is like a melting pot.’ But I think it’s more like a blast furnace for steel,” he wrote. “America was built with the iron bonds of slavery, but the exothermic Civil War broke those bonds. And since then, people from different backgrounds have been bonded together to make America an alloy that’s stronger than the original metal and more resistant to rust and evil too.”

The essay earned him an unforgettable trip to Yellowstone National Park, but the opportunities didn’t stop there.

Over the past two years, Milo has attended numerous America 250 events, met new friends from across the country and discovered that the contest gave him far more than a prize.

“What America 250 has proven to me over the last two years is that it also means that if you work hard enough, you can accomplish really anything,” Milo said. “It means opportunity, too.”

Now, his words have become part of history.

His essay is preserved alongside some of the nation’s most significant historical artifacts and documents, including copies of America’s founding documents, letters from living presidents and other pieces representing life in the United States today.

For Milo, the honor is almost impossible to comprehend.

“I don’t even have any words to describe how awesome this feels to be a part of history.”

His mother, Kacie Bhushan, said the experience has deepened her son’s appreciation for American history and civic pride in ways no classroom ever could.

“His patriotism and pride in being American and his knowledge of American history have been so solidified and expanded from all of these opportunities that he’s had,” she said. “It’s more than any parent could hope for.”

She said it’s overwhelming to know her son’s words will remain long after everyone alive today is gone.

“It’s really hard to put into words just the magnitude of pride that we have in our child’s words being selected for that honor,” Kacie said. “It’s so amazing to think that my child’s words are right there with the words of presidents and Supreme Court Justices and Founding Fathers.”

Although Milo imagines robots and technologies beyond today’s imagination could someday uncover the time capsule, he hopes one thing remains unchanged.

“I really do hope the same amount of America is that American citizens still hold the same core beliefs and their values and ideals at heart,” he said. “And that we keep striving to achieve them because it’s the United States for 250 years already, and I’m sure it can for another.”

Milo also hopes his story inspires other students to take chances.

“There are infinite different ways you could answer that,” he said of the original contest prompt. “I would encourage all the third to 12th graders watching this that they should sign up and maybe write something and find an analogy and just try to enter the contest because you never know what it will lead to.”

For a boy whose words have already earned him remarkable experiences, that message may prove to be just as lasting as the essay itself.