Welcoming the Solar Eclipse with OCSD Science Teachers Dan Freeman and Matt Woleben

Prepare to be whisked away on an educational journey led by Dan Freeman and Matt Woleben, as we explore the cosmic wonders of the upcoming April 8th total solar eclipse. Learn more about Star Lab sessions, where EV, WW, and OIMS students become astute observers of the skies, versed in the delicate dance of celestial bodies. Our hands-on approach equips our future astronomers with knowledge of safe viewing practices and fosters an infectious excitement that has the whole district buzzing. It's safe to say we are all excited for April 8,  the day we stand united under the full eclipse of the sun.

As we embark on this celebratory countdown to totality, join us as we discuss the profound beauty of nature's grandest spectacle. Also, continue to hope for non-cloudy weather! We eagerly anticipate reconvening post-eclipse to share the transformative experiences carved by this rare alignment of the cosmos! 

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:07):
Thank you for joining us on our newest episode of the
Husky Huddle.
I am so happy to be joined byDan Freeman and Matt Wallaban,
who are going to talk to ustoday about the April 8th
eclipse and all the wonderfulthings that we are planning here
in our district to support thisgreat initiative.

(00:28):
And just for your edification,our dear community, on April 8th
, if you haven't heard yet, themoon is going to slip between
the earth and the sun, casting ashadow across a big portion of
North America, and this is goingto be a total solar eclipse.
So which one of you want to gofirst and tell me about yourself

(00:53):
very quickly, so that we canknow who you are?

Speaker 2 (00:56):
Okay, so my name is Matt Willibin.
I am Earth Science andEnvironmental Science teacher
here at the high school.

Speaker 3 (01:04):
Fantastic and my name is Dan Freeman.
I am an earth science teacherhere at the high school and I've
been working here for 24 yearsand ever since I started making
notes for earth science, I'vehad this eclipse included in my
notes, and I've been waiting 24years for this to happen.
It's a really big deal and I'mreally excited for it.

Speaker 1 (01:24):
Wow.
The only other thing that I cansay that I waited 24 years to
do was to see Prince in concert,which I never got to do.

Speaker 3 (01:31):
Oh, that would have been nice yeah it would have
been nice too.

Speaker 1 (01:34):
But, thank you, I'm so glad that you two are here
and I'm so happy to hear aboutwhat you all are doing with the
Star Lab, because this is a bigevent and you said, we've been
planning for this for a verylong time and are so excited
that it's going to be right herein our backyard.
So tell us what you're doingwith the Star Lab.

Speaker 3 (01:53):
Do you want me to go?
Would you like to let me go?
Okay, so basically, me and MrWolbin met with a few different
people Mrs Mahar and KellyGravowski from BOCES and you
know, we just knew this was sucha big deal.
We wanted to do something toeducate the younger kids, and so
it was a lot of work.

(02:13):
Me and Mr Wolven put a lot ofwork into it but it was totally
worth it and I want to give ashout out.
This would not have beensuccessful not only with just
the adults, but we had quite afew high school students that
helped us out with this and theydid an exceptional job.
So basically what we did forthe elementary schools is we had
one group of students doinglike a little skit about the

(02:34):
eclipse to educate the studentson safety and what was actually
happening that the moon wasgoing to go.
In between, while that groupwas there, another group was
working with kids doing a littlehands on activity with like a
styrofoam ball and kind ofmoving it in front of a light
bulb so they could see the moonactually moving in front.

(02:54):
And Mr Wollobin and I wereactually inside of the star lab
and I got to tell you we rockedit.
It was.
It was really interactive forthe students.
I think that you know I wasdoing most of the talking and Mr
Wollobin was doing the computer, but all these kids were
excited.
It was nice to just hear thekids scream at times.

(03:16):
I mean, I know that's not athing a teacher would normally
say, but there were momentswhere it's like, oh, I hope they
like that.
And then all of a sudden youwould just hear the sound just
erupt inside of the dome.
So it's a scream of excitementit was, it was a tear, it was
not tear, it was not tear, itwas excitement.
But so what we did inside thedome is basically we kind of

(03:38):
showed them what the sky lookedlike and where the sun would be.
We went over a lot of differentthings, like it's going to get
cold, you might hear animalsmaking sounds, but then we went
to a couple different views.
I had the kids kind of likeraise their hands and cross
their fingers and hope for noclouds.
So we all did a big, you knowwish like no clouds on April 8th
.
And then, after we did that, Iwas like would you guys like to

(04:00):
go to space?
And me and Mr, all the starswere out.
It was like we were in space.
It was a space view of theeclipse.
Then we did a couple otherthings.
Like you know, fly us to themoon, mr Wollivan.
He clicked another button.
It was almost like the moon wasgoing to collapse, you inside

(04:22):
of this thing.
So there might have been a fewscreams of terror for that for a
second, until the kids realized.
But I will say that when allthe kids left out of that, that
sky lab, they were excited, theywere ready for the eclipse.
They we asked them multipletimes like what do you got to do
?
They know they got to havetheir glasses on, so it was just

(04:42):
a really great activity.
It took.
It was a lot of work but it was.

Speaker 2 (04:46):
It was definitely worth it in the end yeah, I mean
, we got a lot of thank youcards from all the elementary.

Speaker 3 (04:51):
Oh, that was really nice getting the thank you kids
from a lot of the students likeI'm not used to that, so it was
really nice to get some thankyou cards from the students you
guys got to both of ourelementary schools and to oinks
yes, we got, we did what up tosixth grade?
Yeah, sixth grade that isfantastic.

Speaker 1 (05:09):
So of course our listeners can't see, but I'm
holding up a pair of the safe orsolar viewing goggles.
So do you think this experienceis going to help our students
be more knowledgeable aboutwhat's going to happen on April
8th and be able to watch itsafely and understand a little
bit better about what's going on?

Speaker 2 (05:30):
I would say you know, because we did this, the kids
now have a better understandingof what to expect and obviously,
the safety portion of it.
You know, since we did go over,you know this is when you
should wear your goggles, thisis when you can take them off,
you know when you have to putthem back on again.
So I think it was beneficialfor the kids to do that while we

(05:51):
were in the dome.

Speaker 1 (05:52):
So that's fantastic.
So I heard that this entireprocess is going to be four
minutes and 29 seconds.
I also heard that the radioedit of Total Eclipse of the
Heart is four minutes and 30seconds.
Do you think there's acoincidence.

Speaker 3 (06:13):
There could be.
There could be be.
Well, that's one of the thingswe educated the kids on.
We we kind of told them that ifthey're in all in, they're not
going to be in totality.
But we said, as they movetowards buffalo, that's when you
would start to get like twominutes of totality.
You know up to like four, but Idid not know it was four
minutes and how many seconds 29,29.
So I'm gonna to listen to thatsong now totally eclipse of the

(06:35):
heart.

Speaker 1 (06:35):
You know what to do when it starts.
Hit play.
The radio edit will take youfour minutes and 30 seconds.
Interesting.
Okay, that's important foreverybody to know, so that we're
all in sync okay, true so isthere anything else you want to
tell us to be excited and buildup this awesome excitement for

(06:57):
the eclipse?
Is there any special dance weshould be doing to make sure
that we have this beautifulsunny weather that we have right
now on April 8th?

Speaker 3 (07:06):
Well, I'm going to ask anybody that's listening to
this broadcast for you all tocross your fingers and stick
them up, just like thoseelementary kids did, and say no
clouds April 8th, because Ithink that's going to be the
biggest setback here.
You know, if we get clouds Istill think it'll be interesting
because it'll still get dark.
You know the animals mightstill make some sounds, but I

(07:26):
mean it's just going to bespectacular to see it in
totality.
I would like to tell anyparents out there that are
listening to this If you havethe ability to just drive 10 or
15 minutes with your children toeither the North or the West,
it's definitely going to beworth it to get into that path
of totality.
I kind of worked this out withmy own daughter the other day.
She's 23 years old, but she wasasking me and we figured, you

(07:49):
know, if she just went liketowards Salamanca, the
difference between Allegheny,where you might get like 15
seconds of totality, and just toSalamanca, it was like two
minutes of totality.
So, just the you know, just doa 20 minute drive.
Get into that path of totality.
It's definitely going to beworth it.
Know that you can take yourglasses off when it goes into
totality, but when it comes outyou got to have those glasses

(08:10):
back on.

Speaker 2 (08:11):
I mean it is a once in a lifetime thing.
I mean the next one, 140 years,40 years, so yeah yeah, so this
is a great opportunity.

Speaker 1 (08:20):
I really appreciate the work that you're both doing
to make sure that our kids canexperience this safely and that
they understand the significanceof this.
Of course, all of our kids willbe here in a hundred and how
many years 140 years 40 years.
Yes, by that point, they willall be here to see it again and
they will reflect positively onour preparation for this event,

(08:44):
and I want to thank you both forcoming and I can't wait to have
you back on to see whathappened for our eclipse and
what your impressions were Well.

Speaker 3 (08:54):
thank you for having us.
Thank you, pam.
Thank you.