Eighth-grade students at Capt. Walter E. Clarke Middle School experienced a once-in-a-lifetime learning opportunity about space and solar science as they observed the partial solar eclipse on April 8.
Wearing protective sunglasses, Iris Valdez and her classmates looked toward the sky and watched as the moon partially obscured the sun during the celestial event.
The last total solar eclipse occurred 100 years ago. Although El Paso was not in the path of totality, students eagerly watched as the moon covered 80% of the sun. The next total eclipse is expected to happen in 2044.
“It was really bright,” Valdez said as she and her friends stood in the school’s football field. “It's pretty cool. We don't get to do this very often.”
Eighth-grade science teacher Andrea Hernandez said the solar eclipse provided an amazing opportunity for students to connect with science in real life. Hernandez, Clarke Middle School’s Teacher of the Year, collaborated with Kat Gutierrez, a SCEI coach at the school, to organize the event, which included distributing eclipse glasses to the students.
Before students walked outside, Hernandez talked to them about how the solar eclipse would impact the earth’s temperature, animal and plant activity and the rise and fall of ocean tides.
"At such a young age, the more life experience that we can offer to our kids in the classroom hopefully translates into a little bit more fun in the learning side of it," Hernandez said. "We just wanted to bring them out and let them know that academics is fun, too, and we can relate it to other things we experience in real life."
Amarisa Ortiz said watching the solar eclipse was a surreal experience, especially after learning about it in class. Up until that day, Ortiz had only seen an eclipse in videos.
“It felt so cool!,” Ortiz said. “It was such a great time to experience it with friends and the teachers, especially since they taught us about it, and it's so cool to actually see it in person.”