A science teacher made a promise to his students in 1978 that he would host an eclipse party and he made good on the promise!
Patrick Moriarty taught earth science to ninth graders in New York’s Webster Central School District for 16 years. Every year while teaching about Earth’s major cyclic changes, he passed out a sheet detailing all the eclipses that would appear through the year 2030. One date was underlined: April 8, 2024, when an eclipse would occur over New York and Moriarty promised he’d throw an eclipse viewing party for all his students.
That was 1978. On Monday, he made good on that promise.
Moriarty, now retired from working in school administration and living in nearby Brighton, New York, hosted more than 100 of his former students in his front yard Monday to view the eclipse together. Though planning the event technically started 46 years ago in his classroom, Moriarty began planning in earnest in 2022 when he created a private Facebook event. He had a local pizza place cater and his daughter brought over a karaoke machine that he used as a microphone to narrate the science of what they were seeing. Some attendees had custom t-shirts made for the event, and others who couldn’t attend in-person sent their regards from afar so Moriarty knew they were thinking of him.
Love this so much!