RICHMOND, Va. -- Bonnie Tyler's "Total Eclipse of the Heart" blasted on loudspeakers. Parents handed out Milky Way and Starburst. As the solar eclipse rolled through Central Virginia, the entire student body at Trinity Episcopal School hit the athletic fields for a school-wide watch party.
The school's Science Society and leadership spent the past week thinking up the plan and extending the school day for a few moments so students could see the astronomical rarity in their backyard.
"All week, Science Society has really been talking it up in morning meetings — we meet together as a group every day — and we thought why not gather together, make some memories, instill some wonder with the kids, and learn some science?" Robert Short, the Head of School at Trinity, said. " For me, as a longtime science teacher, it was always about instilling wonder because if kids have wonder and natural curiosity, they'll pursue anything."
"It's so exciting that they give us the leeway to make changes to the school day in order to do something like this and help all of our students see such an amazing event. This is like once in a lifetime," Saddie Holloway, the president of the school's Science Society, said.
WATCH: Richmond experiences the solar eclipse outside the Science Museum of Virginia
"You may not think it's a big thing in the moment, but it's definitely something I'll remember for the rest of my life," said Farrah Berry, a student and Science Society officer.
A solar eclipse happens when the moon gets directly in between the Earth and the sun. Essentially, the moon is casting its shadow on the Earth.
These events can only ever happen during the new moon phase. A lunar cycle takes 29.5 days, but solar eclipses don't always happen during new moons. Usually, the moon's shadow goes just above or just below the earth.
But the shadow went directly over parts of North America on Monday.
Trinity Episcopal's Science Society briefed the school on the importance of safety measures when viewing the eclipse and handed out glasses ahead of time. Some students and teachers laid in the grass to take a load off while viewing the fleeting moment.
Leaders at the school said they hoped this event helped inspire curiosity in their students and families.
"It's a pretty cool thing. You can forget about with the busyness of the day; that's where science fits in and talks about the larger universe that we're part of, which is fun," Short said.
Teachers collected all the safety glasses at the end, and they plan to send them to a school in another part of the world where the next total eclipse will take place.
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