Hundreds gather to watch historic total solar eclipse

Cheers erupted from hundreds of students and community members gathered on campus as the moon completely covered the sun for two and a half minutes in Monday’s total solar eclipse. 

Arkansas State University had an entire day of activities for the eclipse, including a lawn party in front of the Reng Student Union, Howl at the Sun, where local grade school students learned about science, and more. 

In Jonesboro, the eclipse began at 12:37 p.m. The moon fully covered the sun at 1:55 p.m., with the eclipse concluding at 3:14 p.m. The next total solar eclipse in the United States won’t happen until 2044.

“This was just something that really brought me joy to be able to see this eclipse. It’s like a once-in-a-lifetime thing,” said Lily Garza, a junior interdisciplinary studies major from Fort Myers, Florida. “I can’t explain it, but, everybody when they started cheering in full totality, that just made me feel so happy and I was like, ‘I’m so happy all these other people can enjoy the same thing with me.’”

The Student Government Association collaborated with the Office of Student Affairs to host the eclipse watch party, which drew an estimated 500 students. Students and community members were provided free eclipse glasses and snow cones, all while a D.J. blasted music. 

“It’s neat to see how many students are really excited about it and are getting to experience something that they might never get to experience again,” said Katey Provence, director of student engagement. “What a cool thing to remember about being in college, that you got to do something like this with your friends.”

During the watch party, members from some of the Divine Nine fraternities and sororities participated in an impromptu strolling. Members of Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc. led the charge when the D.J. played one of the sorority’s national songs “Shake That Monkey.”

Group members said it was completely unplanned, but they enjoyed “getting the party started.” Other Divine Nine groups, including Alpha Phi Alpha and Kappa Alpha Psi, followed with their own strolls shortly after. 

In addition, 150-200 kindergarten to 12th grade students were on campus for Howl at the Sun, where they visited different booths from on and off-campus organizations to learn about both eclipses and science. 

Booths included The New York Institute of Technology, which had a telescope to livestream the eclipse when it reached totality, the Arkansas Biosciences Institute (ABI), which had a scale model of the solar system and the Nursing Department, which educated students on the basics of solar eclipses. 

“I was available to help talk about space, which I really love to help people learn more about,” said Katy Willis, a researcher at BioStrategies, an organization that works with ABI. “It’s been pretty fun. I’ve gotten to talk to the University of Memphis and the Memphis Museum of Science and History, which are all really nice people and just learn some new things.”

Other events included a pop-up exhibition at the Bradbury Art Museum, a three-day festival at the Johnny Cash Boyhood Home and an Eclipse Block Party at the Hemingway-Pfeiffer Museum and Educational Center. 

Students and faculty in attendance said the eclipse was a once-in-a-lifetime experience and one they won’t soon forget. 

“It’s much more dramatic than I thought I was expecting,” said John Cummins, adjunct instructor of music. “It was really wild how quickly it got dark and then just how quickly the light was back.”

Cummins could be seen walking around the Heritage Plaza Lawn with a stuffed wolf named Wolfgang on his shoulder. Wolfgang is the mascot of the music department and wore solar eclipse glasses for social media content. 

“I definitely think we have a special community here,” said Esmeralda Figueroa, a first-year exercise science major from Green Forest, Arkansas. “Everybody was just being able to enjoy this one very special moment in our lives together.”

Jerry Don Burton, news editor, contributed to this report.

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