Eclipse Interrupts 1st School Day

The solar eclipse welcomed students back to school on August 21. Although Moraga was not in the path of totality, students still experienced a partial solar eclipse as they left their classrooms during the morning of the 1st day of school.

The priority of the science department, in the brief time it had to provide instruction to students, was safety.  The department even invested in special glasses that would allow student to safely look directly at the sun. However, when the day turned cloudy, science teacher, Mrs. Jackman saw the humor in the situation, “The actual eclipse was so cloudy here… I think it was ok to look at the sun through the clouds when it wasn’t very bright… It was kind of ironic that we trained our students to be so careful not to look at the sun and then the day that we had, that didn’t really apply.”

Science teacher, Mr. Wildermuth said, “We were able to see it without the glasses when the fog came through, but it was pretty bright even through the fog. With the glasses, if the fog was too thick you couldn’t see anything, but a couple times when the fog cleared out, you could see it through the glasses.”

Safety procedures and general information were discussed in all 1st period classes.

Freshman Sophie Webster said “I wish I would have seen it, but it’s okay, I’ll see it some other time hopefully.”

Emmie Miller said that had the eclipse not been on the first day of school, she might have gone to Oregon to see it.

Those cities and towns across the country that were in the path of the total eclipse experienced a unique spike in visitors. In Glendo, a small town in Wyoming with a population of around 200, hosted about 10,000 people from out of town. I

According to ABC News, for the first time since June 8, 1918, the path of total eclipse was visible across the United States.