EATON — On Monday, Aug. 21, many people witnessed the solar eclipse, and if you were to pass Eaton Middle School, you would have seen the entire campus staring at the sun wearing proper safety glasses.
Every class of every grade was taken outside during the school day to celebrate the eclipse — there was even an after school portion of the event which was optional and required a permission slip.
Parents were permitted to pick up their children early if they did not wish them to view the eclipse for safety reasons. EMS allowed students to be picked up in the afternoon and have it not count against them.
The event was organized by teacher Jennifer Beeghly and the Eaton Middle School Science Department.
“Today we are celebrating the Great American Eclipse,” Beeghly said. “We are observing the eclipse — we are in a region of the United States where we will have around 89 percent totality. The kids all have glasses to observe what is happening in the sky. Some have also made pinhole projectors, boxes, or using index cards to observe the shadow of the image on ground. Then they are making observations of what they observe every 10 to 15 minutes, drawing a picture, and writing a description.”
Beeghly added, the school felt the need to celebrate the day because the eclipse is science in action.
“Preparation for the viewing party began last spring,” she said. “We began seeking donations and writing grants to secure glasses for the entire student body and then over the summer we did a lot of research on lesson planning to give the kids some background information on what a total eclipse is and the reason why this is such a historical event.”
According to eighth grader Haneet Kang, before school started this year she did not know much about the solar eclipse, but since school began she has learned a lot about the phenomenon.
“We’re having a solar eclipse and it is going to be a partial one, ‘cause we’re not in the area of totality. We have these special glasses to look at the solar eclipse,” she said. “We learned about the moon phases and why the eclipse was happening at this specific time and why in America.”
After looking at the eclipse, she added, “It’s cool. It’s kind of amazing that even on a normal day you wouldn’t realize that a solar eclipse was happening. We have to do these observations and so far we just did the normal stuff and had to tell the time and what it looks like in our glasses.”
Fellow eighth grader Henry Kochensparger also said he knew nothing about the eclipse before starting school this year, but added, he found it cool the school gave them the opportunity to take part in the event.
“I’ve learned that the solar eclipse is a rare occurrence when the sun and moon align and it casts a shadow over a certain part of the earth,” he said. “We have these special glasses that block out almost all the light so we can see the eclipse without hurting our eyes. I think it looks like a lunar moon.”
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