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“Hey, please circle that for April 8, 2024,” Moriarty recalls telling his students. “Let’s work on that together.”
His students laughed.It was difficult for Moriarty to think that far ahead — much less for his middle school students. student.
Yet, for years, Moriarty told his entire class to plan a gathering for that year in the distant future. That promise was top of mind two years ago when he created his Facebook event and sought to reach out to his former students.
Moriarty did not expect them to remember, but as word spread among his former classmates, several hundred people expressed interest in the event.
Moriarty made good on his promise on Monday as about 100 of his former students watched the total solar eclipse in his driveway in Rochester, New York. But in the end, it wasn’t the eclipse that surprised Moriarty, but his students.
“When teachers work in education, they want to be teachers who can influence people and make a difference,” said Moriarty, 68. he told the Washington Post. “And this thing that happened here gave me confidence that I was going to be okay.”
After graduating from the State University of New York at Geneseo, Moriarty began teaching earth science at the age of 22 at a junior high school in Webster, New York. He developed a reputation as a tough but caring teacher.
He stayed after class to tutor students and joked with students who were nervous about tests. His students said he interested them in subjects they were not interested in, such as cloud formation, wind paths, and temperature changes.
For 16 years, Moriarty has told his students that in 2024, he would place an ad in the local newspaper, the Democrat and Chronicle, with details of the rally. His students didn’t think much of it.
Kevin Thompson, who took Moriarty’s class in 1982, said, “When you get to that age, people often ask you, “Where do you see yourself in five or 10 years?”” Ta. It is impossible to understand. ”
In 1998, Moriarty became principal of a middle school in Fairport, New York. Moriarty never forgot his 2024 eclipse plans, and neither did his students. When he ran into them at local restaurants and stores, he told them he still planned to meet.
By April 2022, sharing events in newspapers was less common, so Moriarty created a Facebook event and tried to track down about 1,200 former students. He hired a local pizzeria to cater the event.
Within a few months, about 100 former students told me they were joining. Moriarty continues to post updates on Facebook and has purchased 130 pairs of eclipse glasses.
Moriarty began talking to students he hadn’t seen in over 40 years. Mr. Thompson visited Moriarty a few weeks ago and was surprised to find that the former science teacher seemed so short — Mr. Thompson had grown several inches since he was in ninth grade. He still called him Mr. Moriarty.
“This has to be the longest homework assignment ever,” Thompson, now 56, recalled telling Moriarty.
Moriarty said he didn’t recognize some of the former students who came to his home Monday, but he remembered most of their names. Since we last spoke, many had graduated from high school or college, started careers, gotten married, and had children.
Former students came from across the country, bringing yearbooks with them for Monday’s event.
Moriarty was head of the class again, this time in his driveway, telling his former students how the sky looked like nighttime, the temperature was dropping, and the automatic lights in some houses were turning on.
Moriarty said everyone became quiet as the sky darkened, and was surprised when it suddenly brightened up about four minutes later. The sky was cloudy all afternoon, so no one actually saw the moon. That didn’t matter to Moriarty and his students.
“The eclipse itself… put off what this was about,” Moriarty said. “The eclipse was my trigger more than anything.”
As the visitors prepare to leave, Moriarty suggests they meet again in 20 years when the next total solar eclipse occurs. Just like in 1978, everyone laughed.
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