Eclipse Road Trip

By: Emmy Bray / Photo by: Saie Hansen

What could get teens to go to school at 6:00 am? Only the promise of an event that hasn’t happened in a century, or, you know, napping, the two are neck and neck. Whatever the true motivation, both middle and high school students got to school bright and early for a 4-hour car ride to Tennessee. The special occasion? A total eclipse of the sun of course!

The joke above about napping is not to suggest that we went unprepared or unknowledgeable to see the eclipse, however. It was a hot topic of discussion both in the classroom and at the lunch table, and, to add to our enthusiasm, we even made special eclipse day shirts with the coordinates of where we would be watching it!

Only the eclipse itself could be cooler than our shirts. As the world started to dim, animals got confused about whether it was day or night; crickets began chirping, chickens returned to their roost, and we even saw a bat suddenly take to the skies! It was truly remarkable. All along the way you could see people standing outside, their heads turned upward in sync with ours, to watch what could be for some of us a once in a life time experience.