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The scene had all the makings of a funeral: a grave site, clouds and rain, and even a long line of mourners waiting to pay their respects.

Students, faculty members and parents gathered at the courtyard of Henry G. Ferguson Elementary School in Accokeek on April 22 to bury a time capsule as part of the school's annual Earth Day celebration. But this year's activities had extra meaning, as the school prepares to shut its doors. Under a plan the Prince George's County school board approved in March, next school year Ferguson will merge with neighboring Eugene Burroughs Middle School and some of Ferguson's pupils will be transferred to Fort Washington Forest Elementary School.

"I'm going to cry. I don't want to leave," said fifth-grader Meghan Kiehl, 11, of Upper Marlboro. "It really feels like the end of Ferguson."

Students will continue to use Ferguson's and Eugene Burroughs' buildings, and most of Ferguson's students will still attend the school even after it is consolidated with Eugene Burroughs into one complex with kindergarten through eighth grades, headed by one principal. The name of the campus has yet to be determined, but the two buildings will be connected by a walkway.

For nearly an hour, Meghan and more than 30 of her classmates stood outside in the rain, passing a shovel and digging a shallow grave for the time capsule, comprising two large Maxwell House coffee cans.

Some students dropped into the cans class photos, T-shirts made in art class and the cover of Time magazine featuring the inauguration of President Obama. Staff said the capsule will be unearthed in 2021, the year the current kindergartners graduate from high school.

"It is sad. I think the conversion [to a K-through-eight school] is a new beginning, but I'm hoping that the time capsule will catch a little of [Ferguson's] history," said Monique Davis, the school's principal. "It will still be Ferguson, no matter what they change the name to."

Ferguson was built in the 1960s, serving as the only elementary school in Accokeek and the county's southernmost elementary school. Throughout the years, residents have come to regard the school as a pillar in the community, known for high test scores and an active parent base.

On Earth Day, parents and members from the nearby Alice Ferguson Foundation, a nonprofit environmental education organization based in Accokeek, dropped in to teach students about appreciating the Earth.

Ryan Pleune, a coordinator at the foundation who guided students on nature hikes, said that despite the school closing, students should realize that learning can take place anywhere.

"What should be special for the [students] is that there is a classroom outside of these four walls," he said.

And as Ferguson students huddled around the time capsule, they, too, said they would celebrate the day's events and what they accomplished.

"If someone digs [up the capsule], they might remember what happened here today," said fourth-grader Alexis Hawkins, 9, of Accokeek.

Davis, the principal, insists that there won't be much of a difference in how the school is run once it merges during the 2009-10 academic year. Still, she waxed nostalgic as the last bit of dirt was being placed on top of the capsule.

"It's been a good six years at the Ferg," she said, referring to her tenure as principal. "Ashes to ashes, dust to dust."

E-mail Joshua Garner at jgarner@gazette.net.