In a few short months, parts of North America will experience one of the rarest and most spectacular happenings in nature: a total solar eclipse. Students in Gates Chili Middle School’s Outdoor Club are busy preparing for the event after having been named Community Eclipse Ambassadors!
The designation awarded by the Rochester Museum and Science Center (RMSC) makes GCMS Outdoor Club one of 50 organizations to serve as ambassadors tasked with exciting and educating the community about the total solar eclipse on April 8, 2024. And there’s much to be excited about.
When the eclipse passes over Mexico, the United States and Canada, Greater Rochester will be in the path of totality. In a total solar eclipse, people who are in the path of totality see the moon completely cover the sun, causing what seems like night in the middle of the day for a short period of time.
While total eclipses occur on a regular basis, they most often happen in places where people don’t live, so no one sees them. To be in the path of a total eclipse is an event that happens about once every several hundred years!
While the district will be closed on the day of the eclipse, the Outdoor Club Eclipse Ambassadors will be busy in the leadup to the once-in-a-lifetime event. They are already hard at work on several outreach and education efforts, including holding a station dedicated to the eclipse at the Fall Family Fest on Nov. 9. The group also planned an Eclipse Fair on Wednesday, Dec. 6 from 6:30-8 p.m. at the middle school.
Additionally, the Eclipse Ambassadors will have a dedicated section of each month’s district e-newsletter where they will share resources, interesting facts, information and/or activities about eclipses.
