☀️ It's pretty hard to eclipse this story

Imagine this: It's 1978, and you're studying solar eclipses in your high school science class. While looking over a worksheet mapping out future solar eclipse patterns handed out by your teacher, you notice that one is coming to your hometown – in full totality – 46 years in the future. 

• “Hey, circle that one on April 8, 2024,” says your teacher, Mr. Moriarty. “We’re going to get together on that one.”

For years, New York high school science teacher Patrick Moriarty said this to his students. And he figured they all would forget. Decades went by and life went on, but, as 2024 inched closer and closer, Patrick never forgot the promise he made.

Suddenly, it was 2022 – and Patrick started to wonder, "If I hosted this eclipse get-together like I'd always said, would anyone come? 

He sent out an invite 💌.

• Patrick had told his students back in the '70s and '80s that he would put an ad in the newspaper, but, given it was 2024, he decided a Facebook group would do.
• As word spread and the event reached his past students, he was shocked when hundreds of them said they wanted to come. He decided to make a day of it, buying over 100 pairs of eclipse glasses and securing catering from a local pizzeria.

When the day finally rolled around – one Patrick had been talking about for nearly five decades – around 100 of his past students showed up. Most of them are in their 50's now, with careers and families of their own.

• Patrick was able to speak with students whom he hadn't seen in 40 years. And although he didn't recognize some of their faces anymore, he remembered almost all of their names.

👨‍🏫💪 Bottom line: “When teachers go into education," he shared with The Washington Post, "they hope that they can be that kind of teacher that would have an impact on people and make a difference for people. And this event right here just firmed it up for me that I guess I did okay."