Orcutt Academy High School (OAHS) students will have an opportunity to break one of the fundamental rules of childhood on Aug. 21—they’ll look straight at the sun.
North America will experience the first coast-to-coast total solar eclipse in almost 100 years, according to an OAHS press release, and students from Orcutt Academy in Los Alamos and OAHS will witness the sun reach 65 percent obscuration. This phenomenon won’t happen again until 2023, according to the release.
In preparation for the event, Orcutt Academy purchased 770 pairs of Lunt Solar Safe Eclipse Viewing Glasses, enough for every student and faculty member at both campuses. The 116 Los Alamos students in grades first through eighth will take a field trip to the OAHS campus at 9 a.m. to join the high school students, according to the release. All 700 students will take to the school’s blacktop and soccer field when the eclipse hits maximum obscuration at 10:16 a.m. The eclipse is expected to last until 11 a.m.
For community members not attending Orcutt Academy or OAHS, information on the solar eclipse will be presented at 4 p.m. on Aug. 18 in the Santa Maria Public Library. Library Youth Services and References Services will discuss exactly what happens during a total solar eclipse and how to view it safely, according to a library press release.
Attendees will receive special eclipse “viewers” on a first come, first served basis, which presenters will teach attendees to use. Presenters will also teach community members how to make homemade viewers. The event will be free and open to the public.
This article appears in Aug 17-24, 2017.
