As McCallum prepared for the awaited April 8, 2024 solar eclipse, the school arranged for students, teachers and staff to camp out outside as the eclipse materialized above. Set with safety eclipse glasses, and reminders to practice the safe eclipse protocols, students around 1 p.m. traveled outside, where they would remain until totality arrived. Set in the path of totality, Austin experienced nighttime darkness for several minutes in the middle of the afternoon.

Senior Sydney Safarik said the experience was unique.

“It was so magical,” Safarik said. “I felt so lucky that I lived in a place where we could witness this special event at its fullest potential and be able to share it with my friends and classmates.”

While Austin itself was in a perfect spot to experience the eclipse in its totality, the weather didn’t cooperate.

“I would say it was a little funny to me that on this absolutely momentous occasion, an untouchable solar event that only happens once in a lifetime … it was cloudy,” Safarik said. “A little less than ideal considering the circumstances; however, I was not expecting to be so happy at being able to spend the eclipse with my friends.”

While the school prepared designated time for students to view the eclipse outside their routine daily activities, attendance rates plummeted. According to Principal Andy Baxa official attendance was at 59% with juniors having the highest percentage of absences, and 25-30 teachers were out for the day as well.

Using a drone camera, animation teacher Peter Brancaccio captured this time-elapse sequence of the McCallum campus as it experienced Monday’s total eclipse.

“I know that a lot of people stayed home today to watch with their families, which I totally understand,” Safarik said. “But I think it is very special to share it with a big group of people as well.”

The next time Austin will be in totality during a solar eclipse is 2343, more than 300 years from now. Given the certainty that she won’t be around three centuries from now, Safarik seized the experience for all it was worth and appreciated its uniqueness.

“I will remember taking pictures with my friends, waiting for the sky to clear and everyone yelling as soon as they could see the sun and moon for even a second,” Safarik said. “I felt so lucky that I lived in a place where we could witness this special event at its fullest potential.”

We are pleased to share the totally McCallum total eclipse experience as this week’s out-of-this world Tuesday Top 10.

SMILES IN THE DARKNESS: Yesterday afternoon at around 1:30 p.m. the solar eclipse reached totality over Austin. With Texas’ last solar eclipse having happened in August 2017, and the last total solar eclipse having happened in 1878, the event was a rarity.

About 59 percent of students opted to go to school. These images of the eclipse were captured from the outfield of the softball field.

More than 40 percent of students decided not to come to school. For sophomore Paige Whitworth, the event was so infrequent that she decided to take the day off of school to witness it.

“I felt that the event was important enough to be absent from my classes,” Whitworth said. “I wasn’t sure how the viewing at school was going to work, and since this is a once in a lifetime opportunity I didn’t want to miss any bit of it.”

With the eclipse lasting less than three hours, and the totality lasting less than four minutes, Whitworth decided to make a day out of her time off.

“I went with my best friend and her family to watch it [the eclipse],” Whitworth said. “We went to campus and laid in the grass while we enjoyed the view. Before everything we went and got lunch together, and then after it we walked to the drag and went shopping.”

Enjoying the eclipse with a family that Whitworth was so close to made the moment all the more special.

“I remember when it got completely dark, and we all started cheering,” Whitworth said. “I was just really excited to share that moment with my best friend and her family.”

Caption by JoJo Barnard. Photos by Dave Winter.

TAKE TWO: Sophomore Chloe Seckar-Martinez holds out her glasses ahead of the total solar eclipse that occurred yesterday from 1:35-1:38 p.m. For Seckar-Martinez, the experience allowed her to really take in the event, despite slight weather issues.

“It was really fun because I got to be with a lot of my friends, which made it a lot better of an experience,” Seckar-Martinez said. “The last time we had an eclipse — not a total eclipse — but just an eclipse was when I was in fifth grade, and I remember that pretty vividly, so being able to kind of do it again in high school was kind of a cool moment for me. Being able to relive it was really cool. Even though there were a lot of clouds, we could still see it pretty strongly and it still got pretty dark, which was fun.”

The last solar eclipse that was visible in North America occurred in 2017, but Austin was not in the path of totality. Seckar-Martinez remembers seeing it while she was in elementary school, but feels like yesterday’s eclipse was more meaningful.

“I definitely feel like this one was more, like I was able to experience it how I wanted,” Seckar-Martinez said. “In fifth grade, they were definitely trying to make sure that everyone kept their glasses on, and it was more of a structured thing, as they should when we’re in elementary school, but this time I was more able to experience it how I wanted to. So if I wanted to look at it at a certain point, I could, or if I wanted to just see how dark it got outside, I could. Just having a little bit more freedom of being in high school and being able to experience it made it a lot better.”

Caption by Alice Scott. Photo by Dave Winter.  

MAKING MEMORIES IN TOTALITY: The eclipse viewing time was not just for the students at McCallum; the teachers were also able to go outside and see this once-in-a-lifetime phenomenon. For math teacher Jami Friedman, the best part of the eclipse was being able to experience it with her fellow math faculty: Chastity Colbert-Davis, Angie Seckar-Martinez and Julie Petersen.

“It was really cool to be able to experience it with my friends who are the other teachers,” Friedman said. 

Leading up to the eclipse, Friedman had lowered her standards due to the warning of bad weather; however, her expectations were raised as she saw the sun begin to become covered by the moon. 

“I knew the weather was gonna be bad, but I was still excited for it,” Friedman said. “But I was actually able to see it better than I expected, which was cool.”

When the eclipse actually happened, Friedman couldn’t believe that she was in the line of totality. 

“I was just thinking how cool of an experience it was for people to have that happen in Austin,” Friedman said. 

The most surprising thing to Friedman was how dark it got in the day. 

“I don’t think I’ll ever forget what it looks like,” Friedman said. “It actually looked like nighttime.”

Caption by Chloe Seckar-Martinez. Photo courtesy of Chastity Colbert-Davis.

AS REAL AS YOU CAN BE: Knowing the eclipse was a once in a lifetime experience, senior Sydey Safarik took the experience for all it was worth. When she heard her Be Real notification sound, she knew she only had two minutes to capture her surroundings for all her friends to see. 

Safarik knew she couldn’t ask for a better moment for the notification to go off. Outside with her friends—Addie Knight, Lucy Kuhn, Ingrid Smith and Maggie Coulbourn—in the midst of the rare solar eclipse totality. She gathered her friends, told them to pose and forever captured her moment in the eclipse that would go down in history. 

“Right as the eclipse was coming off of total coverage my Be Real notification sounded,” Safarik said. “I asked my friends to quickly pose with their classes so I could capture us in half darkness.”

Caption by Chloe Lewcock. Photo by Dave Winter.

A MAGICAL MONDAY: Looking at the solar eclipse through her protective glasses at school, history teacher Ashley Friedman wasn’t sure what to expect.

“This was my first experience,” she said. “I didn’t really have any [expectations]. I wasn’t sure what to expect, I just knew it was going to be, not a once-in-lifetime, but very special.”

Friedman, who is in her third year at McCallum, had some ideas of what the eclipse might be like from prior research.

“I kind of did [know what the eclipse would be like] because I had been doing some research and watching some videos,” she said. “It was really cool. I didn’t really know what it was going to feel like, but it was definitely pretty magical.” 

Friedman’s experience viewing the eclipse in the school environment was a positive one.

“Being at school [for the eclipse] was actually really cool because I felt like students really got to come together and weren’t really on their phones,” she said. “They were in the present moment.”

Friedman is grateful for this moment shared with a fellow teacher.

“I watched it with Ms. O’Neal, and we were just trying to take in the moment, and it was really spectacular,” Friedman said. “I’m grateful I got to see it. It was a really awesome and historic phenomenon.”

Caption by Shila Gill. Photo by Sophia Manos.

JUMPING TOO CLOSE TO THE SUN: Sophomores Emerson Merritt, Olivia Pittman and Chloe Seckar-Martinez throw their faces toward the soon-to-be-covered sun as they wait for Monday’s total solar eclipse to begin. Pittman, a Blue Brigade member and the vice president of the sophomore class, and her friends were making a Boomerang for the Class of ‘26 Instagram when a certain journalism adviser noticed their activity and caused them to jump for the camera. They may have been goofing around before the eclipse, but Pittman cherished experiencing it on campus. 

“I thought it was really interesting to watch it at school and just get to experience it with everyone and see everyone’s reaction,” she said. “I thought it was cool that the school bought us glasses and made a whole ordeal about it, because I think it was really special.”

While many students chose to watch the eclipse from home, Pittman said she chose to go school because the school’s eclipse festivities and experiencing it with her peers would make it worthwhile.

“When it reached totality, everyone started screaming,” she said. “I thought that was funny. It was just cool to see everyone’s reactions.”

Monday’s eclipse was Pittman’s first, so a sense of mystery surrounded the event. 

“I didn’t really know what to expect,” she said. “Honestly, I hadn’t really researched it at all, so it was just really cool to see it in person, and I think it was a very unique experience.”

Caption by Lanie Sepehri. Photo by Dave Winter.

EXCLAIMING FOR THE ECLIPSE: Freshmen Jack Wood, Arwen Pelletier and Cole Truong watch the eclipse from the softball field with their digital media class. Pelletier said she was glad she chose to experience the eclipse with friends at school.

“So many kids were exclaiming whenever the clouds broke, and you could actually see it,” Pelletier said. “I live really close, and my mom was at home and she was outside. She said that she could hear everyone yelling.”

For Pelletier, the highlight of the eclipse was the few seconds when the clouds parted and the eclipse was visible in totality.

“I’ll always be able to remember what it looks like in my mind,” Pelletier said. “Some things I think about, but I can’t remember what they looked like. But this was memorable enough and incredible enough that I’ll be able to picture it forever.”

Caption by Ingrid Smith. Photo by Dave Winter.

ONCE IN A LIFETIME: Sophomore Gwen Sieke stares up at the eclipse Tuesday afternoon, in fascination of what she sees in the sky above her. 

Initially believing she wasn’t going to see anything because of clouds, Sieke noted that the sky started changing.

“It got super dark all of a sudden, and even a little cold,” she said. “Then the clouds parted a little, perfectly in time with when the eclipse was really happening.” 

As if it happened in no time, the totality of the eclipse lasted 2-3 minutes, giving viewers a short time period to see the moon fully covering the sun. 

“It got super light outside even quicker than it got darker,” Sieke said. 

Most people only view an eclipse once in their lifetime, and Sieke said it was an event she will remember forever. 

“It was really incredible being able to experience the eclipse with my friends at school,” she said. “I’m definitely going to be able to remember who exactly I was with because it was a once in a lifetime chance.” 

Caption by Priya Thoppil. Photo by Sophia Manos.

CREATING MEMORIES TO LAST A LIFETIME: Senior Naomi Di-Capua points up toward the sky during the total eclipse on April 8, surrounded by her friends. 

Since the eclipse happened during third period yesterday, many students decided to skip school to watch it with their family, friends or to travel to see it. Di-Capua had two of her hardest classes, so felt she needed to be at school.

“I was still able to meet my friends to watch the whole thing together and share such a cool memory,” she said. 

For Di-Capua, seeing the sky go dark during the middle of the day was the coolest thing. 

“It was shocking to just see the whole sky go dark in the middle of the day and watch all the lights turn on,” she said. “Not to mention, being able to see the solar flares on the sun during totality which is something that I’ve always heard a lot about but never thought I’d see.” 

Even with the forecast being less than ideal for viewing the totality, Di-Capua acknowledges that this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

“I definitely thought and hoped for no clouds, so seeing clouds in the forecast was a little bit disappointing,” Di-Capua said. “I still feel like I got so lucky and the cloud parted just a little bit for me to see a few seconds of the totality, but either way, it was still amazing.”

Caption by Maya Tackett. Photo by Dave Winter.

A WORTHY DISRUPTION: Math teacher Richard Cowles stares up at the eclipse pre-totality with fellow McCallum staff members, Stephannie Pinto, Julie Petersen and Jami Friedman. For Cowles, yesterday was his first sighting of a total solar eclipse. 

“I really enjoyed my viewing of the eclipse,” he said. “It was kind of a bummer that we couldn’t see it as well as we may have wanted, due to the clouds, but it was still good.” 

Cowles believes that the group that gathered outside for the viewing third period felt as a community.

“It was fun to have everyone out there,” he said. “There was some eclipse music going on in the background, and everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves.”

As a teacher himself, Cowles had his classroom schedule disrupted, but he found it to have been worth it. 

“I think it [the eclipse] was worthy of our time,” Cowles said. “It was a very unique event, and it’s rare that we have opportunities like this where we can go out and teachers don’t have to be as much of an administrative force.”

Caption by JoJo Barnard. Photo by Sophia Manos.

A UNIQUE EXPERIENCE: When students ventured out to the baseball fields to watch the total solar eclipse during third period, sophomore Ava Dallesandro tagged along with two friends. She said witnessing the shift from the partial to total eclipse was a frenetic experience. 

“I felt like I was going crazy because it was super fast,” Dallesandro said. “It was dark all of a sudden and then it went back to light again.” 

Dallesandro said enthusiasm for the eclipse nationwide made the event feel really special. 

“It was so cool how there were many people in the world at the exact time that were looking at the exact same thing that I was looking at,” Dallesandro said. 

With the next eclipse estimated in 2044, Dallesandro said she is excited to experience multiple eclipses in her lifetime. 

“This is the third eclipse that’s happened in my lifetime,” Dallesandro said. “And the next one isn’t in a long time, but it’s super cool that I get to keep experiencing this and remembering it.”

Caption by Josie Mullan. Photo by Sophia Manos.

Journalism adviser Dave Winter scans the cloudy sky hoping that the eclipse will peak out from the clouds. Winter’s wife Jennifer and son Henry were in Fredericksburg for Monday’s eclipse to be with extended family and friends, including the pastor who officiated Winter’s wedding 32 years ago. When Austin ISD decided not to cancel school as several nearby districts did, Winter made the tough decision to stay in Austin and go to work. “My wife surprised me,” he said. “She said that I needed to go to work so I could cover the eclipse experience at school.” Winter reluctantly agreed, and in the days leading up to the eclipse, it looked like he would suffer an inferior viewing experience. The forecast was slightly worse for Austin than it was for Fredericksburg, and the time of totality was about half as long. Unfortunately for Winter’s family, the expectation was not realized as the clouds appeared at the worse possible moment over the skies of Fredericksburg, obstructing the view of eclipse while it was often visible through the clouds in Austin especially at the time of totality. “I was really bummed that I wasn’t with my family, but at least I got to see the eclipse pretty well with my school family. For me, the eclipse really was Knight Time.” Photo by Arwen Pelletier.

LEARNING IN TOTALITY: Senior Carys Blaney, senior Luke Bockholt and freshman Thomas Bockholt look up to see the moon travel halfway across the sun through a break in the clouds. Blaney wasn’t sure what to expect during yesterday’s total eclipse, but the celestial event turned out to be a perfect learning opportunity. 

“I didn’t expect to see that much of [the sun’s] corona or how cool the solar flares looked coming off the sides,” she said.

The experience pushed Blaney to look into the astronomical science behind the eclipse and why it looks the way it does. Her research brought her to various articles and videos.

“I learned about [how] the spots that appear around the edge happen due to the moon’s craters, which was cool to actually see and recognize,” Blaney said. “The bright specks of light that come out around the sun making it not a perfect circle is because of the craters on the moon. I think they’re called sun spots or Baily’s beads.”

While eclipses happen rather frequently, seeing one in totality for most is a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Blaney said she will always remember the actual look of the sun, but the event wasn’t the biggest thing that surprised her. 

“I was surprised by how strong the instinct to just look at it without the glasses was, even though I know I’m not supposed to,” she said. 

Caption by Eliza Jensen. Photo by Dave Winter.

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