For Rochester students hoping for an eclipse, Monday became a cosmic injustice

Jordan Shearer, Post-Bulletin, Rochester, Minn.
·2 min read

Apr. 8—ROCHESTER — For elementary students expecting a day to remember, Monday's solar eclipse-that-wasn't turned into a cosmic injustice.

In anticipation of the event, Harriett Bishop Elementary held an eclipse watching party in the school's parking lot. But despite of making all the necessary preparations, they were left standing with a fully overcast sky.

"Why is it not happening?" first grader Carter Axtman asked his teacher when the clouded sky failed to dim even a little.

Earlier in the day, students in Lindsey Reishus' fourth-grade class were busy beautifying their eclipse-watching glasses. The Rochester Astronomy Club donated several hundred pairs, allowing each student to be decked out and ready for the event.

For added protection, the students attached white paper plates to the periphery of their glasses, while cutting a slot out for their noses. James Crowley decorated his with an eye patch and skull and crossbones, intent on greeting the eclipse with the fortitude of a pirate. Another fourth grader, Elijah Priniski, simply drew a couple of eyebrows on his paper plate, giving it the appearance of an emoji.

"It's super cool that we get to experience this right at school," fourth grader Jasper Russell said.

Meanwhile, Reishus pulled up

NASA's live feed of the eclipse

working its way from Mexico up through the United States.

"Look at that — look at the screen you guys," Reishus told her students. "They have totality in Mexico right now. That's what it looks like."

As they were getting ready to leave the building, Reishus lined her students up to review a few ground rules: 1) Don't look at the sky without the glasses 2) Don't wear your glasses on the way outside lest you fall down the stairs.

Harriet Bishop's students certainly weren't the only ones in town waiting at the ready on the chance the clouds would break. Across town, students at Holy Spirit Catholic School gathered outside with their glasses, staring up into the sky.

"We knew it was an educational moment for us," said principal Amy Heimer.

But no matter how many eyeballs tried guilting the sky to bend to their will, the clouds simply didn't break. And for a young student who knew how exciting the day was marketed to be, it was a hard pill to swallow.

When the students at Harriet Bishop started to head back inside, first grader Jasper Douglas told his teacher Jamie Berry exactly what he thought about the situation.

"This is a scam."