By Judith Roberts
While part of the country experienced a total eclipse yesterday, several teachers and students in Lincoln Parish still were able to take advantage of the less-than-perfect conditions.
Ruston Elementary students had the opportunity to learn and view the April 8 eclipse, which was seen in partiality over Ruston.
Mandy Brown, principal of RES, said the students have spent the last several days learning about the eclipse.
“The teachers spent time explaining what the students might see when the eclipse happened and shared safety tips with the students for using their glasses,” Brown said. “Teachers around the building watched to see if the students would be able to go out to see the eclipse while watching the eclipse on the NASA live stream as it began reporting at noon from Mexico and progressed with the movement of the eclipse throughout the country.”
RES had a pair of eclipse glasses for all of the students with signed permission slips, and while the weather was cloudy, it was still a learning and growing opportunity.
“Unfortunately, our weather did not cooperate, but there were a few precious moments when the students were able to run out to catch a few glimpses of the eclipse between the clouds,” Brown said. “You could hear squeals of delight as they were able to see bits of the eclipse using their glasses. What a fun experience for the students to be able to be a part of history.”
Halie Martin, a fifth grade ELA teacher, said she was so glad she was able to experience the eclipse with her students.
“The kids were thrilled,” Martin said. “Mr. (Russ) Brantley did such a great job of building up the event beforehand in his science class. The live feed from NASA was a great alternative at first, but we braved the drizzling rain for a few minutes. You could feel the excitement from them. Even though it was crowded under the awning, I think several students were able to see it a few times through the clouds. I was a little disappointed about the rain and clouds because I was hoping they would get the ‘full experience’ but none of our students seemed disappointed.”
