On April 8, students at Heritage got to experience a total solar eclipse during 5th hour, where all students and faculty got to go outside for an hour and watch the moon cross in front of the sun. In our area we were in the 98% of totality range, our maximum level of the eclipse lasted over a minute and tinted the sky a gray-blue.

The teachers who got to bring their students out enjoyed it. 

“I thought it was really cool that we got to take all the students outside for it and get to experience it together with them it was almost like a tailgate which was cool,” said Meagan Johnson, head of Heritages A.V.I.D program and head soccer coach for the women’s team. 

Kyle Moix, AP history teacher, enjoyed it with his students, but still felt it was a little underwhelming.

“The difference between 99% and 100% is night and day, literally. But I heard that 99% is really no different from 50%. But if you’re in totality then it was pretty sweet,’’ said Moix.

A student who went out of town and into the range of totality felt that it was a once-in-a-lifetime moment and felt bad for the people who didn’t get to experience it. 

“I enjoyed the eclipse, the sky getting dark, and the ring around the moon from the sun looked awesome. It was a fun experience and the fact that it won’t happen again for another 20-something years is crazy to me. I know [Rogers] didn’t get as cool of a look at it as we did, but it was definitely worth the anticipation from our side of it,” said Alekzander Patton (9).  

The next total eclipse that will be visible in Arkansas won’t be until April 12, 2045, and it will also pass over the Caribbean and South America.