EMINENCE, Ind. — When the total solar eclipse occurs on April 8, students at one small Indiana school will have a unique view very few others will get.
The astronomy class at Eminence High School is one of just a few dozen groups working with a specialized telescope.
Eminence High School teacher Sedrick Weinschenk applied for a grant with the Citizen CATE 2024 project and got it. The program is funded by the National Science Foundation and NASA.
For the students, the program and the telescope are just the beginning of a new scientific journey for the school.
"But part of what they want is a community outreach part," Weinschenk said. "And so we'll also want to do some kind of nighttime observations where we'll open it up to the public, invite some of the elementary school kids out. We might try to do some projects during the day where we actually bring the elementary school kids out, and then my students will then talk to them about the sun."
Live Doppler 13 meteorologist Chuck Lofton actually got to witness the 2017 eclipse with Weinschenk, who is now looking forward to sharing that with his students.
"For lack of a better phrase, it's out of this world. There's just nothing else that you experience like it. And so I want them to get that experience. But then also being able to contribute to some really new science," Winschenk said.
Students in the class are excited for this once-in-a-lifetime experience.
"And to actually be able to see it while it's happening and have some sort of connection to it is really interesting to me," senior AJ Fritsch said.
"I think that really just puts us out there. I think it's a great opportunity for us that we wouldn't normally get otherwise at such a small school," junior Sophia Saucerman said.
The sun will be blocked for up to four minutes April 8, but when its over, the sun will shine on those watching the eclipse and the future of science in Eminence, Indiana.