Coming into school on Monday, nobody was sure we’d be able to see the solar eclipse. It was humid and overcast, the sun poking through the clouds then disappearing slowly after- and not in the way it should have. Those weren’t the only concerns. Parents were pulling their kids out of school because they didn’t want them to look at the sun. Others were making a 5-6 hour drive to Carbondale so they could see totality.

Of course, there was the question of whether or not the sun decided to show. After a video and three talks on viewing safety, it seemed a bit odd not to experience the eclipse our entire day was centered around.

Walking to the football field at the beginning of seventh period, I realized that that was a possible situation. I tried on my glasses; everything went dark. The white dot in the sky disappeared along with the clouds surrounding it, so the view wasn’t all that impressive. As we passed the bleachers, a group of kids shouted excitedly; for a split moment, a golden crescent appeared behind my shades, then vanished behind the shrouds of gray again.

It was just after the fire drill ended when a cheer ran through the crowd. Shadows shifted over the football field and students sank into the turf, slipping their glasses on as the sun poked through.

That’s when most of us finally saw the solar eclipse.

For me, it was the first few moments that were the most memorable. Seeing the sun through glasses looked exactly as it had on screen. The stunning golden hue stood out among the sky, which was filtered black like someone had cut a crescent shape into the darkness.

Many were similarly amazed by the solar eclipse.

“The solar eclipse was the most interesting thing to happen astronomically since I’ve been alive,” sophomore Analise Sekowski said.

Annie Kong, sophomore, agreed.

“It was an interesting and inspiring experience where I could see something I might not see again,” Kong said.

Both Kong and Sekowski watched the solar eclipse from Naperville Central’s football stadium.

Junior Alex Trickey drove to Carbondale to watch the eclipse. “[It] felt surreal,” Trickey said. “The sun’s something that is constant throughout each day, and seeing the moon slowly pass over and block it out was really strange. It felt more like I was watching a scene from Star Wars or another sci-fi movie than something that you’d see from Earth with how strange and awesome it was.”