On April 8, hundreds of staff and students flooded to the surrounding athletic fields to witness 3 minutes of totality during the first total solar eclipse Leander has seen in centuries. According to the attendance office, around 49% of students were absent Monday, resulting in the lowest attendance rate all year. 

While Texas has seen its fair share of partial eclipses, 2024 marked the first year Austin and surrounding Hill Country was included in the path of totality since 1397, according to UT. Totality occurs when the moon almost completely obstructs the sun and is the only time viewers can safely gaze at the sky without protection. Hundreds of solar eclipse glasses were donated by 3M to commemorate the event. 

While some students came to school out of their own volition, others came because their parents told them to. But for junior Mariana Robles Rubio, it ended up being a lot more rewarding than she thought. 

“I only came to school because my mom told me to,” Rubio said. “But I was able to hang out with my friends, and we got to see the eclipse together. In the end, I’m glad I got to go because I was able to see that experience with some of my best friends.”

Because students were able to view the eclipse with their friends, it made the experience all the more memorable. But according to sophomore Spurthi Nannapaneni, the most climactic part of the eclipse was the totality.

“It was like I was in another world,” Nannapaneni said. “The sky went dark and there was just this ring of light in the sky, and it was so beautiful. I could even see the solar flares coming out from the corona. It was way cooler than I thought it would be.”

While the eclipse itself easily took the cake in being the most attractive thing during the outing, other events that happened on the field made the experience even more surreal. As sophomore Laianna Hughes explains, one of the most memorable moments during the eclipse was the injuries that befell soccer coach Christian Perez while he was playing catch with his soccer boys.

“I think he caught the ball and fell on his shoulder,” Hughes said. “He seemed like he was fine at first, then he kinda just fell over like five minutes later. I was concerned because I thought he looked into the eclipse. I’m like, ‘he’s probably going blind,’ until I realized that he was gripping his shoulder. So yeah, I was pretty scared because that’s a scary thing to break your collarbone.”