INDIANAPOLIS — Sacred Heart Academy students are getting the opportunity of a lifetime next week.
They'll be traveling to Indianapolis, one of six major cities in the path of totality, to see the 2024 solar eclipse. And it's all thanks to an anonymous donor.
After receiving funds to cover bus fees, 27 high school and 15 8th grade students, plus chaperones and staff, are going to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway to watch the moon completely cover the sun on April 8.
The eclipse will last around three hours, beginning at 1:48 p.m. in Indianapolis. It will reach its peak in the area between 3:06 p.m. and 3:10 p.m.
The science classes for grades 8 through 12 at Sacred Heart have all covered astronomy, mechanics, heat transfer/fluid mechanics, animal behavior, discoveries and human experiential viewing of eclipses, school officials say. Now, they'll get to see it all in practice.
“In my Physical Science and Astronomy class in particular, we had a whole chapter leading up to this about the life cycle of stars, the formation of the solar system, theories of how the moon came to be in orbit around the earth, along with an introduction to the planets, their size, and other fun facts,” says household dean and upper school science teacher, Eric Plaehn.
The rest of the students back at school will still get to experience the eclipse. They'll be enjoying the view of Grand Rapids' 94% eclipse from the school's green spaces, especially at the area's peak time of 3:11 p.m.
►Make it easy to keep up to date with more stories like this. Download the 13 ON YOUR SIDE app now.
Have a news tip? Email news@13onyourside.com, visit our Facebook page or Twitter. Subscribe to our YouTube channel.
Watch 13 ON YOUR SIDE for free on Roku, Amazon Fire TV Stick, Apple TV and on your phone.