ECS prepares for solar eclipse

It has been nearly 100 years since a solar eclipse has gone across the continental United States but one will occur Aug. 21 and the Enterprise City Schools are preparing to make it an experience to remember for all students in all grades.

This solar eclipse event is called the “Great American Eclipse” by National Aeronautics and Space Administration officials because the last time such occurred was June 8, 1918.

During the Aug. 21 eclipse, the moon will completely cover the sun on a stretch from Lincoln Beach, Ore., to Charleston, S.C. Those outside this path will still see a partial solar eclipse where the moon covers part of the sun's disk.

Enterprise is expected to experience an 85 percent eclipse when the total eclipse occurs in Nashville, Tenn., according to Enterprise Schools Superintendent Greg Faught.

Faught, Director of Secondary Education Danny Long and Director of Elementary Education Dr. Teri Prim are among those planning to ensure that all ECS students have the opportunity to view the partial eclipse that is expected to occur during the middle of the school day. All the students will be provided with protective glasses in order to safely view the historic happening.

“I would like for this to be a system-wide learning opportunity for the students leading up to and after the event,” Faught said. “While we will not be exposed to a full solar eclipse, this is a significant event for our students.”

Prim and Long agreed. “This is a real world experience that our students can share with their families,” Prim said. “It will be unifying experience that, actually, the whole community can come together on.”

“It's an historical event,” Long added. “It is something that can be tied to all the core subjects we teach. Our students will be able to learn about the history behind the eclipse, the science behind it, the math behind it.”

“We realize how this real-life opportunity can inspire learning through natural curiosity, imagination, excitement and, ultimately, the experience of the event itself,” Faught said. “We will be able to live each one of those things at the respective grade levels.”

“Teachers will be able to teach within their subject and across the curriculum to increase science literacy,” Faught said. “We want those element to take root across our school system throughout each grade level and with each child.”

Several eclipses will pass across the United States in the 21st Century, according to the NASA website. The eclipse Aug. 21 is the first. The next is in seven years.

“A total eclipse is a dance with three partners: the moon, the sun and Earth,” explained Richard Vondrak, a lunar scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. “It can only happen when there is an exquisite alignment of the moon and the sun in our sky.”

“The opportunities for learning are endless,” Faught said. “It’s kind of like a field trip that everyone gets to go on but no one has to leave anywhere and it doesn’t cost the families anything.

“Things on that day should get really dark for a while,” Faught added with a smile. “This will be neat for all our kids to experience.”