To commemorate the solar eclipse, Midtown staff and students spent part of the afternoon in the Henderson football stadium to witness the historic event.
Midtown STEAM coordinator Stacey Tanner co-led this initiative with Environmental Science teacher Pierre Davis, advocating for the importance of this opportunity for high schoolers in the district.
“Initially, [the district] was only giving glasses to elementary schools, and then I contacted the science department director asking for Midtown to participate as well,” Tanner said. “[The district’s science department] sent us 2,000 glasses for the whole school and we’ve worked from there to distribute the glasses to all of the classes and coordinate getting the school out at the right time onto the field.”
Tanner believes that this experience was important for students due to the rare nature of solar eclipses.
“The next solar eclipse is in the 2040s, and as a STEAM school, students deserve to experience this,” Tanner said. “Right now, I don’t think many students are realizing the magnitude of this historical event. But, I hope in 2040, students can think back to the great experience and day.”
Junior Violet Fitzgerald said she was appreciative of this event because of its rarity.
“The fact that we all had glasses provided and got to experience this as a school was so special,” Fitzgerald said. “The school did a great job preparing us all for this historic event.”
Fitzgerald felt that this eclipse was a bonding experience for the school community.
“Being all together as a school feels as rare as a solar eclipse, and it really brings the community together to have an event like this,” Fitzgerald said. “It is so important to bring us all together.”
Sophomore Jamie Drake agrees with Fitzgerald that this was a beneficial community event.
“This is a very cool way to come together to share an experience,” Drake said. “I still remember going outside in 5th grade for the last solar eclipse and having a lot of fun with my classmates, so memories like this really stick.”
Literature teacher Reginald Buchanna hopes that this eclipse was be a learning opportunity for students.
“This is an extremely rare event so I feel like it can be a beautiful time to learn about how it happens, the purpose of it and how it impacts our climate,” Buchanna said. “I hope students really gained a lot of knowledge from today.”
Senior Samiah Elmore believes that this experience has both taught her about eclipses and brought the school community together.
“This is a learning experience to know about what is going on in the universe and space,” Elmore said. “It is so important for us all to be here right now and it’s just an awesome experience to have with all our classmates and teachers.”
