Union Elementary and Middle School students will get a chance to join hundreds of millions of people around the world in watching the first solar eclipse that will be viewable in North America in 16 years.
UES Principal Deanna Rush and Union Middle School Principal Tyler Hansford have ordered around 800 ISO certified solar shades for students to safely view the eclipse on Monday afternoon in the bleachers at the football field.
Monday’s solar eclipse will be the first for North America since 1991, and Rush said it was a golden opportunity for the students to see science in action.
“There won’t be another one for several years that these kids will get to see so we didn’t want them to miss it,” Rush said. “So, we are using the experience to teach them the scientific relevance of it, and it’s a good way for them to learn about space and the orbit of the earth, the moon and the sun.”
All this week, the UES and UMS students have been learning about astronomy and about the safety measures to take while viewing the eclipse.
Looking directly at the sun can damage eyes except during the brief total phase of a solar eclipse (totality), when the moon entirely blocks the sun’s bright face, which will happen only within the narrow path of totality.
Rush said the glasses should arrive on Thursday and the students will then be taught how to use them properly.
The eclipse will begin at 11:56 a.m. in East Central Mississippi and totality is expected to occur around 1:27 p.m. Teachers have also been using the mobile app Eclipse Safari to teach fun facts about the eclipse.
Because of eye safety issues, students will have to get parental permission to view the eclipse on Monday.
Rush said she is hoping that all of the students will be given parental permission and that the school is also asking for parent volunteers to help make sure the younger students wear their solar glasses properly.
“For some of them it might be a once-in-a lifetime experience,” she said. “To get the opportunity to see one is something that they’ll never forget.”
