CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — The solar eclipse is only a few days away and several school districts across the Coastal Bend are taking precaution when it comes to this big event.
A major part of Texas is in the path of the total solar eclipse. Although locals in Corpus Christi will only get partial view, many school districts are using this event to teach students as valuable science lesson.
Tuloso-Miday ISD Superintendent Steve VanMatre said the district is excited to turn the upcoming solar eclipse into a teaching opportunity.
"We're so excited, you know the sun is the original rock star of the Earth and this is such a natural phenomenon that we have to take advantage of it," VanMatre said.
For the district, the number one priority is to keep students safe.
"We have decided that make sure our Pre-K, which is our 4-year-olds, all the way up to our 8th graders will be inside from noon to three o'clock," he said.
For high school students, teachers will either provide safety glasses or have fun indoor activities.
"We provided teachers with websites, NASA has a streaming site that's really going to be a rich lesson for our kids," VanMatre said.
Adults were also encouraged to take safety precautions when viewing the solar eclipse.
Students with TAMU-CC are preparing to travel to see the eclipse.
"So overall, our Atmospheric Science program, we are launching two weather balloons and we're going to have four weather stations out in the Hill County which we are going to launch a weather balloon an hour before total totally and then another one almost after we launched our first weather balloon," student Andy Meade said.
Corpus Christi ISD posted to their website that they will provide solar eclipse glasses to all campuses and will give parents the option to op-out their child from participating.
The Diocese of Corpus Christi is allowing campuses to facilitate an outdoor viewing activity, but students who are not participating will remain indoors between 1:15 to 1:45 p.m.