For the first time in nearly 40 years our country was was able to witness the once in a lifetime event of a solar eclipse.  This solar eclipse was different because of the path it took, coast to coast people from Oregon to South Carolina was graced by the event, and millions of Americans traveled miles in order to witness a once in a lifetime event for some. Thousands of people flocked to our great state of Nebraska, including one of the faces of science the infamous Bill Nye the Science Guy. If that doesn’t show how huge of an event the solar eclipse actually was.  

While some were lucky enough to travel and miss school others did not have the same luck.  For those of us still in school that day we followed an adjusted schedule with shortened class periods and an earlier lunch in order to squeeze in some time for the big moment. At the beginning of students’ sixth period we were given special solar eclipse glasses and led out to our designated watch areas that we had practiced the following week. By the time we had gotten out there the solar eclipse had began roughly an hour earlier and the sun and moon were rapidly approaching each other.  Within seconds day turned to night and the “oohs and awes” of the crowd replaced the sound of the crickets and birds. Soon after witnessing the phenomenon students returned to class to resume their normal daily class activities after a quick discussion following up.

Many people may feel as if this was too rushed, that there should’ve been more time designated to watching the eclipse, however that means even more precious class time would have been taken out; or one class would have more or less time designated for learning.

I think the way things were handled was the most direct and less invasive of class time. Some schools in Arizona did not even get to view the solar eclipse even though they were only in the impartial eclipse because of risk of eye damage to students and teachers.

Overall, we were lucky to be able to witness such a monumental event that we didn’t even have to leave our state or our town for.