Mississippi software company films eclipse in Arkansas for virtual reality education

Vinny Jordan (left) and Zack Davenport (right) traveled to Arkansas on April 8, 2024 to film the total eclipse for Mississippi-based software company, Lobaki. The footage will be used to develop an education virtual reality experience for students. (Paige Eichkorn/Arkansas Advocate)

Park rangers at Pinnacle Mountain State Park had already shut down parking lots and trailheads an hour before the total solar eclipse took place Monday.

Traffic directors turned away drivers and reported as many as 500 people on top of the mountain.

Open benches and boulders were few and far between at the peak as visitors settled in to take photos and watch the natural phenomenon unfold.

Among those atop the mountain were Zack Davenport and Vinny Jordan from Lobaki, a Mississippi-based software company. The pair filmed the eclipse in a 360 degree video for virtual reality technology to document the event and offer it to schools.

Officials estimate around 500 people came to Pinnacle Mountain State Park near Little Rock to witness a total solar eclipse on April 8, 2024. (Paige Eichkorn/Arkansas Advocate)

“How do we capture the amazingness of this event and record it for posterity for those who couldn’t be here,” Davenport said. “…Our whole thing is to try to create opportunity, present the curriculum that students would normally be learning in a traditional classroom in a way that speaks their language, in a very hands-on, immersive way.”

Davenport said students will feel like they’re playing a video game and called it the “future of education.” 

This technology could have inspired Tracy Childers, a visitor from Memphis, Tenn., when he was a student. While he “hated history,” in school, Childers said he loves it as an adult.

“It’s so sad that somebody couldn’t give me something that would have made me fascinated,” he said.

Childers and Davenport agreed it was “amazing” to meet people from out of state and be in the same place for something “monumental.” Davenport said Monday’s event was unique because he didn’t experience totality during the 2017 eclipse.

“Just the difference between that and totality. I mean, my mom said it, you can feel it,” he said. “You can feel it in the air. You can hear the changes. It is like a completely sensory overload of amazing science.”

Students will eventually be able to see what Davenport saw Monday thanks to an Insta360 camera. The team filmed everything in 180 degrees and will stitch it all together.

“It caught the sun and the crowd and the reactions, which is really cool,” Davenport said. “Got some of the sunset looking off into the distance…I cannot wait to see how it all turns out.”

The video will be available for free on the company’s YouTube page with the goal of drawing in potential partners.

Lending a hand

Arkansas resident Ana Abarca said she didn’t know what to expect on the West Summit trail Monday, but “it was amazing.”

“If you have never seen one, you hear [from] people, you imagine stuff, but you don’t know what to expect until you really see it,” she said. “It’s impressive.”

Part of Abarca’s experience included providing assistance to Lisa Degutis. The Florida resident called Abarca “an angel” who assisted her and her husband after they hiked for two hours without water. 

“We came very ill prepared,” Degutis said through tears. “She gave us fruit, food and extra water, and I honestly did not know how I would make it down.”

“She was so giving. She’s only 23 and she’s amazing, what a person. Thank you so much, you don’t know what that meant to me.”

The April 8, 2024 total solar eclipse attracted out-of-state visitors because much of Arkansas was in the path of totality. (Paige Eichkorn/Arkansas Advocate)

Local photographer Denise Bryant said park rangers did a “great job” when she needed assistance after taking medication that made her feel light headed.

Bryant said she was grateful to hikers named David and Megan who called a park ranger and stayed with her while she waited for help. Other hikers offered Bryant a banana, protein bar and water.

“I ended up recovering. It was the first time I had ever experienced problems coming up here…But it was a wonderful time,” Bryant said. “Everyone was getting along and people were teaching each other different languages — French, Spanish, English. There were a lot of good things going on on this side.”

This was Bryant’s second eclipse and she shot photos with polymer paper taped over her camera to protect her camera lens from damage.

“When you’re doing stuff like this you want to be able to remove things as quickly as possible,” she said. “But you also want to be able to put it on as quickly as possible because you can ruin your camera.”

Floyd Sterling from Greenville, Miss., climbed the mountain barefoot with his son and their dog, who he had to carry up the boulders when he got tired. 

Sterling brought flip flops in case he had to go inside somewhere, but said he typically goes barefoot to most places unless shoes are required.

“I’m not hauling around all that weight and my temperature’s probably more easily regulated,” he said. “I can get cooler faster and I can grip rocks and whatnot. I can feel better than if I’m gonna slip.”

Sterling said this was his family’s first time at Pinnacle Mountain and they made the trip because they wanted to be in totality.

“I think there was a 98% [visibility] over there and that little difference,” he said. “So we drove for that three minutes of darkness.”

The trip was worth it, Sterling said.

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