April 9th, 2024, 1:42 pm: New Tech High @ Coppell students and faculty, as well as thousands of others in our area, witnessed a total solar eclipse. There won’t be another total solar eclipse sighting in Texas until 2044, 20 years from now! Watching the moon fully cover the sun and block out its light was an “outside of self-experience,” says New Tech’s chemistry teacher, Ms.Bilbray. Not only is she very knowledgeable in all things space and science, but she also planned the school-wide viewing of the eclipse. Ms.Bilbray has been a NASA Solar System Ambassador for two years, which is how she decided to highlight the upcoming eclipse. NASA Solar System Ambassadors are volunteers who are interested in all things science and get to learn about NASA’s many ongoing missions through monthly Zoom calls. They have the opportunity to share certain information and experiences from the program with their community. For example, Ms.Bibray first heard about the total eclipse through this program, and was so interested that she wanted to educate our campus! Not only do the ambassadors get to share information given to them with their communities, but they also get to share their experiences with other Solar System Ambassadors! Izyan Sultanali (10) used special equipment provided by one of our teachers, Mr.Vasquez, to photograph the eclipse. Ms.Bilbray posted one of his photos to one of the groups she was a part of, and the ambassadors were very impressed!
The eclipse offered opportunities to many aspiring scientists and photographers here at New Tech, along with the opportunity for students to view something so hyped by social media. Ms.Bilbray mentioned it “helped a lot of y’all see something amazing for yourselves,” instead of just seeing these events on Instagram or Tik Tok. She also said that this event was an unexpected bonding experience for our school. Everyone was together marveling at the sky, and an eerie silence fell over the crowd right before totality. Then, everyone counted down from three and cheered as the moon fully covered the sun! Students excitedly ripped their protective glasses off their faces (which is safe to do during totality) and whipped out their phones to capture the rare moment. Throughout the excitement, students got to bond through a shared out-of-body experience, something Ms.Bilray said she didn’t anticipate. Thanks to Ms.Bilray, the school was able to safely view this once-in-a-generation event. It makes one wonder, what’s more special about this phenomenon: the people, or the event? As amazing as the actual eclipse was, would it have been as memorable without the people we celebrated it with? Whatever your answer to that question might be, the eclipse was definitely an exciting moment for everyone and a memory we will never forget.
