Areas of the United States experienced a total solar eclipse April 8. While Los Angeles (L.A.) did not witness a total eclipse, a partial eclipse was visible. The last time a total solar eclipse was observable in L.A. was September 1923, and the next time a total eclipse will be visible from L.A. will be in 2045, the New York Times reported. California also saw a partial eclipse in 2017 and experienced 60-90% totality depending on the region, according to nasa.gov
Finn Slootweg ’26 viewed the solar eclipse during his lunch period. Slootweg said he was unable to view the 2017 partial eclipse, so it was a new experience for him.
“I watched the eclipse at school with my friends,” Slootweg said. “I really enjoyed the experience because I was not able to see the last one. I loved being able to share this moment with other people at school.”
Slootweg said he appreciated how the school community came together to watch the eclipse.
“What made the eclipse memorable for me was watching my friends take pictures using their phones through their [eclipse] glasses and being able to see all the other people get really excited about the eclipse and its effects on our surroundings,” Slootweg said. “It’s nice to be able to take a break from learning to enjoy something unique.”
Senior Prefect Elizabeth Johnstone ’24, who was in New Jersey during the eclipse, said she appreciated being able to experience the eclipse from another place.
“I was actually traveling during the eclipse,” Johnstone said. “I was in New Jersey, which meant that I experienced about 90% totality. There was a big park in the city I was in, and tons of people gathered to look up. Thankfully, the weather was great, so I could see the whole thing pretty well.”
Science Teacher Chelsea Stewart traveled to Oklahoma to experience the eclipse with 100% totality. Stewart said she first became interested in solar eclipses because of her father.
“My dad loved astronomy,” Stewart said. “He always made us curious about looking up at the stars, so as a family, we went to see the eclipse in 2017. [I] wanted to share that experience with even more of our family, so we invited aunts, uncles and cousins, and we all gathered to go experience [this year’s] solar eclipse.”
Stewart said her favorite memory was being able to look straight at the sun once it was dark.
“It was pretty cool to be able to take off your [eclipse] glasses and just stare at the sun,” Stewart said. “Then we grabbed some binoculars, and we used the binoculars to look at the sun to see the solar flares, which are really cool. [It] just seems like a scary thing because you never want to aim binoculars at the sun. There was a time when I was younger when I was absolutely terrified of astronomy – because when you look up at the stars, you just feel really, really small. But now, I’m more fascinated by it.”
