Solar eclipse wows Burbank students
About 750 students from Joaquin Miller Elementary School in Burbank put on their solar shades and gazed at the rare solar eclipse that occurred Monday morning.
Students and teachers stood outside on the school’s grass field and looked up at the sky as the moon slowly passed in front of the sun. Although it was only a partial eclipse locally, there were still plenty of “oohs” and “ahs” from the gallery of students.
“I can see the moon,” many of the children yelled out as the moon covered more and more of the sun.
Second-grader Amelia Dieter said she was looking forward to seeing the moon cover the sun as much as possible.
“It looks like a crescent, and I think it’s really cool,” Amelia said.
The majority of students were wearing special solar glasses that were purchased by the school. Other children opted to view the eclipse indirectly by using pinholes, either by poking tiny holes in a box or a piece of paper or using their hands to make a hole.
Principal Judy Hession said the students had some preparation before the eclipse.
Timothy Thompson, vice president of the Los Angeles Astronomical Society and a former employee at Jet Propulsion Laboratory, stopped by this past Thursday to talk to the children about eclipses and why they happen.
“The teachers have been showing the students different videos and doing lessons with all the students, but today’s the day that they actually get to see it in live action,” Hession said.
Hession said she remembers the last time she saw a total eclipse — in 1979 when she was in the eighth grade.
“It was bizarre because it felt so weird,” she said. “It was pitch-black dark, and I remember being inside when it happened. It was so weird, and I was freaking out.”
Ericca Dent, a second-grade teacher at Miller Elementary, was the person who reached out to Thompson and asked him to speak with the students. Dent said she and her students have been waiting all weekend to finally see the eclipse in person instead of in a book or on a computer screen.
As a self-described fan of everything related to space, Dent said it was important to share the moment with students because it is an event that happens just a handful of times during their lives.
“I hope it sparks their interest about space, astronomy or just science in general,” Dent said. “Maybe a few of them will go on to be astronomers. You never know.”
anthonyclark.carpio@latimes.com
Twitter: @acocarpio
