Students were buzzing with anticipation as they gathered outside Summit County’s Weilenmann School of Discovery, including first grader Rome Birkeland, 7.
“I'm excited because we get to see it with the glasses, and it's orange,” he told KPCW.
The K-8 charter school is divided into a lower, or elementary, school and middle school. Teachers had the middle school students, who’ve already learned about eclipses, split up and teach groups from the lower school.
“They are very excited," middle school digital literacy teacher Karla Willis explained, "We have been covering solar eclipses and lunar eclipses for a while, and they've learned that the moon is going to partially block the sun today at 12:32.”
“I think we came out a little bit early so that we can get everything set up, get the kids ready to look without damaging their eyes," said 14-year-old Kean Nickerson, one of the "teachers" deputized for the day.
He’s no stranger to eclipses. He went to Wyoming for the previous one in 2017 and enjoyed last October’s annular eclipse too.
"I looked down at the leaves; I did a couple cereal box experiments with it. That one was pretty cool," Nickerson said. "But this one should be way more exciting."
It was also 6-year-old Hope Hick's second eclipse, even if she doesn’t remember the first. The Weilenmann student was born the same day as the 2017 eclipse on Aug. 21.
She said this eclipse was "cool," and first grader Gabriel Kagan, 7, agreed.
The partial solar eclipse lasted about 2 hours in Utah April 8. According to the National Weather Service, it peaked at 12:32 p.m. with 48% of the sun covered by Earth’s moon.
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration predicts the next solar eclipse will cross North America Aug. 23, 2044.
