Students Reunite With Science Teacher Decades After Invitation To Watch Solar Eclipse Together
Retired high school science teacher Patrick Moriarty hosted the 2024 solar eclipse party he promised his students almost 50 years ago.
Moriarty was 22 years old in 1978 when he began teaching earth science at Spry Junior High School in Webster, a suburb of Rochester, New York.
When he realized that Rochester would be in the path of totality during the 2024 solar eclipse, he eagerly began suggesting that his students save the date so they could watch the eclipse together.
“I said, ‘Hey, why don’t you circle this April 8, 2024 eclipse — and you know what? We’re going to get together on that,’” he told NBC News.
“And my kids looked at me like I was crazy.”
For the next 16 years, Moriarty invited class after class to meet up for the eclipse. As the decades passed and the 2024 date approached, Moriarty created a Facebook event to organize the party, never expecting such a large and heartfelt turnout.
“I thought it would be a nice little core of people who were totally into eclipses, and maybe they’d share the experience with me,” Moriarty told the Democrat & Chronicle. “But it’s not about the eclipse anymore. It’s about this. It’s about the sharing. It’s about the impact of teachers. It’s about so much more.”
Now 68 and gray-haired, Moriarty was overcome with emotion when over 100 of his students showed up at his house, prepared to celebrate and share the special moment with their old teacher.
Ric Mintz, one of Moriarty’s first students, showed up to the reunion with his wife Nancie, both wearing handmade “Moriarty Eclipse Gathering” t-shirts.
“I don’t remember a lot of my teachers from back then, but he was one of them,” Ric Mintz said of Moriarty. “When he said we were going to meet for the eclipse and he held true to it — here we are.”
Students near and far came for the occasion, some traveling from as far as Boston, Detroit, Minneapolis and Virginia. They wore nametags with their graduating class date written on it and settled in for another science lesson from Moriarty.
One student even postponed her knee surgery so she could make the event. Though her surgeon tried to convince her that knee surgery was more important than a party, she disagreed.
“He doesn’t know Mr. Moriarty,” she said.
As his driveway filled with chairs and solar eclipse glasses, Moriarty went back into teacher mode, grabbing a corded microphone to talk about the eclipse in real time.
He became emotional as he addressed his former students, thanking them for sharing this once-in-a-lifetime event together.
“When I had these kids, they were 9th graders and 9th graders wear a teenage mask and they don’t let you know that you’re getting through,” Moriarty said. “Now they’re adults and the mask is off.”
For this passionate science teacher, the love shown by his students was a pinnacle moment in his career.
“Everyone wants acknowledgement in what they do,” Moriarty said. “To have that and have it be so meaningful — it’s amazing.”
Kendra Denson, who was in Moriarty’s class in 1984 and lives in Rochester, said the event was emotional for her, too.
“To see all the different classes join together — this was, to me, a true class reunion,” Denson said.
Moriarty knows the party was much bigger than just watching an eclipse, it was about the special bonds of community.
“It’s not about the eclipse,” he said. “It’s about you guys being here to share this time with my family and me and each other. I wish every educator had this.”
