James Blake has been looking forward to Aug. 21, 2017, since he was teaching earth science to middle school students in Loup City and learned that's when the path of a total eclipse would include Nebraska.
That's a consummate “teachable moment."
“I remember reading it and thinking it’s only 10 years from now,†he said.
Fast-forward a decade and Blake, now the science curriculum specialist for Lincoln Public Schools, has spent nearly a year making sure all 40,000 students in the district get to gaze at a once-in-a-lifetime astrological event.
“There’s some really good research about the impact this will have on kids learning about the natural world,†he said. “It’s a phenomenon. You don’t want to learn because it’s in a textbook but because it’s happening outside.â€
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Events like this make students want to ask more questions, can inspire a love of science.
“In my mind it’s teaching for enjoyment, not accountability,†Blake said.
Let’s be clear: this isn’t just a big deal to science teachers.
The last time the path of a total solar eclipse passed through what would become the city of Lincoln was the 1400s. The last time a partial eclipse passed through North America was 1979.
This time, the eclipse’s path of totality -- where the moon will completely cover the sun -- will span an area from Oregon to South Carolina.
The path of totality in Nebraska will be about 65 miles wide, and while the center line passes closer to Beatrice, the total eclipse will be visible in Lincoln, said Lee Thomas, chairman of the board of supervisors at Lincoln’s Hyde Observatory.
“It rarely happens,†Thomas said. “It’s the only time you can look directly at the sun with your naked eye.â€
That presented a huge opportunity for schools, and Blake began talking with science teachers and university faculty last summer to brainstorm lesson ideas.
He spoke to principals and formed a committee and LPS officials agreed the viewing should be a coordinated districtwide event.
That’s no small undertaking. Blake ordered 55,000 pairs of glasses to protect students’ eyes. He got some money through the Foundation for LPS, but is still accepting donations.
Teachers worked together to design lesson plans to use during the first week of school leading up to the eclipse.
Blake has come up with district guidelines to help teachers, training for principals and will make sure each school has one “practice†event leading up to the real thing -- a live show from 12:50 p.m. to 1:15 p.m.
Blake has created a checklist for principals and a list to let every school know -- down to the second -- when the total eclipse will pass over their building.
One of the biggest concerns is safety, which is why special glasses are necessary to avoid eye damage when looking directly at the sun. For that reason, kindergartners will participate from inside.
Students will wear the glasses to see the partial eclipse but will be able to remove them when the total eclipse passes over their school.
Those in the north part of town will have less than a minute to watch the eclipse without glasses, students in schools at the south end will have a little more than a minute.
Students will see that their shadows change shape during the eclipse, that the darkness makes birds start to "roost," and they'll see shapes and streaks coming from behind the moon.
People like Thomas -- who has been an amateur astronomer since he was 10 years old -- travel the world to see such an event. In 2008, Thomas saw one in Siberia, when he fulfilled another dream of traveling across Russia.
Hyde Observatory volunteers have been working on plans for more than a year, and Haymarket Park officials plan a series of events and will stop a baseball game scheduled that day so fans can watch the sky.
At LPS, they’ve designed a logo to promote the district event and they held an art contest for the glasses.
Sutton Classen, who will be a fourth-grader at Maxey Elementary, and Tristen Broome, who will be a senior at Northeast, will have their winning designs printed on the glasses.
Even the lunch ladies have gotten in on the act. Students will be served lunch in an eclipse-themed lunch sack on the big day.
Blake left Loup City in 2007 and but remembers his Loup City students being as excited as he was about the prospect of an eclipse -- even 10 years down the road.
“It would be fun to go back and find out if any of those students remember it,†he said.