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But it might take a while for that damage to show. Dr. Brian Pennington, emergency room physician with Sycamore Medical Center in Miamisburg said the symptoms tend to be delayed.
“It does take about anywhere from eight to 12 hours after the initial exposure to really develop the symptoms,” he said.
Horace Mann Principal Kevin Schalnat said many members of his staff remembered when they were in school the last time an eclipse occurred here and wanted to make it special for their students.
“We have all of our first, second, third, fourth and fifth graders learning the solar system, the history of it and having fun,” he said.
The school brought 500 eclipse glasses for students and staff. He said he brought the glasses after a science teacher alerted him to the learning opportunity. He ordered the glasses earlier this month and had them ready for students by the start of the school year.
“We are having a lot of fun,” Schalnat said.
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The eclipse started at about 1 p.m. in Springfield and lasted until about 4 p.m. The peak of the eclipse was around 2:30 p.m. Clouds covered the sun at times but moved out of the way just in time for students to see the eclipse at its peak.
The students let out a loud cheer when the clouds moved and they could see the sun.
Students enjoyed watching the eclipse and being outside, said Andrew Couper, Horace Mann’s student support facilitator.
“It’s fun for the kids because it’s something they won’t be able to do for a long time,” Couper said. “It was cool for the school to get a chance to come outside and do something together.”
While Horace Mann enjoyed the Eclipse together Monday, some schools either canceled school or changed their schedule. Southeastern Local Schools and Catholic Central cancelled classes because of the eclipse while Tecumseh Local Schools extended school hours 20 minutes to ensure they didn’t release students right at peak time.
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Sixth-grade student Gracie Stalnaker said she was a bit disappointed by the eclipse.
“I was expecting for it to be darker than this,” she said. “The moon would cover it a lot more. We are not in the path of totality though so it’s not going to get as dark as it would be if we were.”
Stalnaker wasn’t alone — readers on Facebook commented on the Springfield News-Sun’s live video that they hoped it would get darker. Experts said though 87 percent of the sun was covered by the moon around 2:30 p.m., 10 percent of the sun remains very bright and residents would only notice the day being slightly darker.
Another eclipse will occur for April 2024. During that eclipse, Springfield will be in the path of totality. Residents will see the sun either completely covered up or close to it.
Although Stalnaker said it wasn’t everything she hoped, she still enjoyed the eclipse.
“At first the eclipse was not that exciting because the moon was already kind of covering it but then after a while the sun kind of came out and it was brighter and better,” she said. “But the clouds were kind of covering it so it was not as exciting as I thought it was. It was still really fun because we all got to talk about it and warning each other to look,” she said.
ePaper Section Section: Subscribers will receive a four-page "Eclipse Extra" of the best eclipse photos from around the nation and world in today's online edition.
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