ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WROC) — A 46-year-old promise came to fruition Monday when a former teacher reunited with his students to watch the total solar eclipse in New York.
Pat Moriarty started as an Earth science teacher at Webster High School back in 1978. He’s had the date of the total solar eclipse circled on his calendar ever since.
“I gave the kids a list of like 50 different eclipses [that] are going to happen around the world,” Moriarty said in an interview with Nexstar’s WROC ahead of Monday’s eclipse. “And one of them was going to be in Buffalo, New York, on that sheet … and it was April 8, 2024. So here it is, 1978. And I turned to the kids, and I said, ‘Now, circle that one.’ It was just an idea at the time. ‘We’re going to get together on that one.'”
He continued making that promise to his classrooms through the years until he stopped teaching in 1998, when he became a principal of a junior high in the area, the Washington Post reported.
Originally, Moriarty had told his students he’d be putting an ad in the local paper to let them know about the 2024 watch party, the Post reported. But with the changing times, his plan changed, as well.
Two years ago, when he realized the big day was approaching, he created a Facebook event to try and track down the former students to whom he made a promise.
“They’ve contacted me through Facebook. I made it a point to get on Facebook just for this reason,” Moriarty said.
On Monday, about 100 of his former students came together at Moriarty’s house to experience three minutes of totality together.
“It is an amazing, magical moment,” he said.
“This has got to be the longest homework assignment in history,” 56-year-old former student Kevin Thompson joked in an interview with the Post.
Moriarty’s home in Brighton, New York, was in the narrow path of totality that crossed through the U.S. Monday. Witnessing the event left many – including Moriarty and his former students – in awe.