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SHELBY TOWNSHIP/STERLING HEIGHTS/UTICA — Utica Community Schools provided solar eclipse viewing glasses to all its students to view the total solar eclipse that recently took place. Beacon Tree Elementary School in Shelby Township has now started leading an effort to gather donated glasses to be used by underserved communities around the world for future solar eclipses, since the United States will not need the glasses until at least 2044.
Beacon Tree is following the guidance of nonprofit organization “Astronomers Without Borders” in conducting the collection.
Beacon Tree Elementary first grade teacher Amy Orlando started the recycling effort that has expanded to other schools within UCS.
The glasses will be taken to Albion College’s Physics Department, which is a collection point for Astronomers Without Borders.
The Collection will be happening through June 1. The community can send glasses to Beacon Tree Elementary, Attn: Amy Orlando, 55885 Schoenherr Road, Shelby Township, MI 48315.
Orlando said that she remembers when she was in the first grade in the late 1970s and they used a paper plate with a hole in the center to view an eclipse, so she was very excited to view the April 8 near total eclipse with her class.
“Utica Community Schools ordered glasses for all students, and we have about 26,000 students, and staff, so it was really cool that we could all view the eclipse together. We talked a lot about how we could view the eclipse safely with the glasses,” she said.
Orlando enjoyed the experience.
“It was amazing. We went out and saw the eclipse when it was about halfway, and then we went out a little bit later to see the eclipse when it was almost completely covered. It was incredible,” she said.
She said the students in her class will be adults the next time an eclipse happens in Michigan, and she hopes they remember viewing the eclipse this time just like she remembers doing it with her classmates when she was in first grade.
“It was so cool that I’m teaching first grade and we got to do this together. I hope they remember how important and special the experience was. When I told the class there were other places that could view the eclipse at different times of the year, we talked about how some people don’t have the resources that we have. So, we talked about how we could help those kids be able to see the eclipse. When I realized the district was buying the glasses for everyone, I was extremely excited. We used them the one day and I thought to myself, ‘What are we going to do with all of these glasses?’” she said.
She said it was a big opportunity for her students and she wanted to help offer that opportunity for other students as well.
The glasses will be sent to South America, where there will be an annular solar eclipse on Oct. 2, and then there will be future eclipses in other places around the world.
“So maybe they will pass on our glasses, too,” Orlando said.
She said she gets a few donated glasses every day and they are still coming.
Beacon Tree Elementary first grader Sunny Roeske said this one small task can make a big difference in the world.
“We are helping the earth by reusing the glasses and passing them on to other people,” Roeske said.
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