SRL Captures Once-in-a-Lifetime Eclipse Moments Across the Country

As millions watched the first total solar eclipse in 99 years move across the country on August 21, 2017, student reporters from California to South Carolina captured unique local perspectives and reactions in their communities.

More than a dozen Labs participated in SRL’s first multi-platform challenge. Student reporters harnessed the power of social media to report and share eclipse events on their school campuses, at their local libraries and even on an aircraft carrier. Several schools reported live using YouTube, Snapchat, Twitter and Facebook.

A team of reporters at Etiwanda High School in Rancho Cucamonga, California walked throughout their campus to conduct live shots with students, science teachers, and administrative officials, including their vice principal. At Wauwatosa West High in Wisconsin, class was not even in session, but a group of students led by SRL Connected Educator, Chris Lazarski, ventured to Milwaukee Central Library and the city’s lakefront to shoot video and interviews. In Salt Lake City, Utah, student journalists at Judge Memorial Catholic High School live-streamed from their school’s football field where the entire student body gathered, eclipse glasses in hand, to witness the eclipse.  

When totality reached its final continental location in South Carolina, broadcast students from Fort Mill High School were ready with both live and recorded tri-city coverage in Greenville, Columbia, and Charleston. In addition to interviewing scientists and a NASA representative, Fort Mill student Reese Phillips snagged an interview with TODAY show weatherman Al Roker, who was covering the eclipse alongside other media onboard the USS Yorktown in Charleston.

Participating Labs included:

  • Black River Falls High School, Black River Falls, Wisconsin
  • Dalton Middle School, Dalton, Georgia
  • Etiwanda High School, Rancho Cucamonga, California
  • Edward Roybal, Los Angeles, California
  • Fort Mill High School, Charleston, South Carolina
  • Health and Science School, Beaverton, Oregon
  • Judge Memorial Catholic High School, Salt Lake City, Utah
  • Oakleaf High School, Orange Park, Florida
  • South Mountain High School, Phoenix, Arizona
  • Wauwatosa West High School, Milwaukee, Wisconsin