On April 8, 2024, at approximately 3:20 p.m. Frederick, MD, experienced a partial solar eclipse. Oakdale science teacher Ms. Deborah Brandenburg, aided by Mr. James Keller and Ms. Reyna Strohecker, organized an after-school viewing event for students who wished to stay and watch the eclipse. 

“Mr. Keller and Ms. Strohecker and myself got together. We thought it was a really cool event that only comes around every, you know, 40 or so years, so we were interested in sharing that with as many students as possible,” shared Brandenburg. 

The event had a great turnout. “There’s actually more than I thought there would be,” senior Ricardo Yanez mentioned. 

Brandenburg sent out information on schoology and find out first emails as well as hung posters around the school. She expressed her worry about getting students to show up since it was the first day back after spring break, but she let anyone who wanted to come and join in the festivities and got a great turnout, around 15 students. 

“I think getting students to stay after school and get excited about real science and academic issues is a tough sell, so I think that’s a great thing when we can get them together to come out, and we have some excited students here today,” Brandenburg explained. 

Right after school, students met up in Brandenburg’s room and watched a short video to learn more about the eclipse before heading outside to start observing it. Students began to look up at the eclipse through the special glasses provided by Brandenburg around 2:30. They watched as the eclipse progressed to its peak, which didn’t occur until 3:20 p.m. 

The event was noteworthy for its community engagement. Students got involved in science outside of the school building and members of the community also came out to join the celebration.