MCS Students to Travel to View Total Solar Eclipse

By David Avitabile

MIDDLEBURGH - Middleburgh Central School secondary students will be traveling to the western part of the state to view the historic total eclipse of the sun on Monday, April 8.

More than 75 percent of students in grades seven to 12 have returned permission slips to travel to areas of the state that will have a total solar eclipse. Even though Schoharie County is not in the path of totality, the eclipse will be more than 90 percent complete here.

Superintendent Mark Place detailed the trips last week.

Students in grades seven-11 will start the day with a college tour.

Seventh graders will go to Herkimer Community College, eighth graders will go to Fulton-Montgomery Community College, ninth graders will go to Mohawk Valley Community College, 10th graders will go to Hamilton College (Clinton), and11th graders will go to Utica University.

They will have lunch on the college campus, and then travel north into the path of totality at around noon, Superintendent Place said, "We have coordinated with the Lewis County Fairgrounds in Lowville, to have this as our viewing destination for the solar eclipse. Lowville is expected to have around three minutes and 30 seconds of totality."

The 12th grade will be traveling to The Wild Center in Tupper Lake, he added. "This is rated as the #1 Science Center in the United States. They will arrive in the early afternoon, explore the science center, and then join with many others in experiencing the solar eclipse that afternoon. Tupper Lake is expected to have around 3 minutes and 30 seconds of totality as well."

Superintendent Place added, "As a former Earth Science teacher, I have been thinking about this opportunity for the past year. I began the conversation with staff last spring, and over the past six months, we have pulled all of the plans together including the coordination with the five colleges and the two viewing destinations. Our class advisors and curriculum coordinators have been instrumental in helping organize the trip. As of this morning, we have 229 students (out of 297) who have their permission slips turned in. Additionally, we have 37 chaperones which includes the entire administrative team, and we have eight bus drivers. In total, 274 of us will be traveling to see the eclipse." The district will also have its communication team from BOCES traveling with them to document the day, and a reporter from the Daily Gazette will also be joining them.

Schoharie Central School will be closed on April 8, in conjunction with the historic solar eclipse that will impact a large part of the country.

District officials said that because the eclipse will occur at the end of the school day and partly coincide with dismissal, the district is opting to not be in session.

Even though Schoharie County and the Capital District will not be in the path of the total eclipse, astronomers said the eclipse in Albany will be a deep partial (with magnitude 96.6 percent at its height.

The eclipse will begin around 2:10pm on April 8. The total eclipse will end around 3:20pm and the partial eclipse will end around 4:30pm.

Solar eclipses in New York, or even the United States, are not an every day occurrence. The last total solar eclipse in New York was in 1925. The next total solar eclipse in the United States will be 2045. The next total solar eclipses in New York will be in 2079 and 2144.