Claflin students turn out to watch eclipse

The eclipse-viewing event at Claflin on Monday, Aug. 21, 2017. (Special to The Panther)


Claflin students, faculty and staff turned out in big numbers Monday, Aug. 21, to watch with excitement as the total solar eclipse was visible in Orangeburg.

Claflin passed out glasses and gave a presentation on the eclipse. Music and refreshments were available for everyone on campus for the eclipse-watching event.

"I thought the solar eclipse was awesome,” Courtney Jefferson, a second semester junior from Charleston, said. “It was a little scary at first because I didn't know what was going to happen.”

If given the chance to see a solar eclipse again, Jefferson said she would definitely want to view it.

Natrawn Maxwell, a Claflin junior, wasn’t expecting the eclipse to be over so quickly, with just more than two minutes of totality.

"I really wasn’t paying attention when it happened, but when I did look up, it was amazing,” Maxwell said. “It was a natural phenomenon.”

A transfer student from Morris College, Teasia Bryan did not plan on watching the solar eclipse.

"I wasn’t going to see it at first but when I saw everyone else going, I came to see it," Bryan said.

Bryan liked the way the moon and sun looked while she had her special eclipse glasses on. "I would travel to go see that again; it was interesting.”

Corina Badger, a sophomore from Hampton with a major of early childhood education, said, "This is the only time the solar eclipse is going to happen in my lifetime, so I might as well watch and enjoy it."

Badger said she was nervous before and while the eclipse was happening, waiting to see truly if the moon would completely block out the sun’s light.
Sophomore Thaddeus Holliday said, “The fact that I was able to view  it in my own lifetime with ease was pretty spectacular. I was extremely tired after the eclipse though."

Senior psychology major Derika Gray said, “I thought it was a really cool process. Everyone was on the side of the road, outside of stores, streets, everywhere!

“I think if people did not know what was going on the day of the eclipse, they would not have known what was happening or even noticed it.”

Chance Schultz, senior art education major, watched the eclipse from his home in North after getting his solar glasses from Walmart on North Road.

It was “awesome and unbelievable,” he said, echoing what others said about a once-in-a-lifetime event.

Andrew Lynch, a University of South Carolina student, was visiting a friend for Claflin’s eclipse event. "I still can't believe I took a whole day off for a solar eclipse that lasted shorter than my lunch break,” he said.

Sophomore Destiny Sumter of Moncks Corner watched the eclipse on campus with friends.

“The best part to me was when … the moon halfway covered the sun and the sun was bright orange. I kinda wished it lasted more than like one minute though because of how the sky looked,” Sumter said.

“There has been a lot of hype surrounding it the last few weeks,” Sumter said of the eclipse. “I wanted to witness it happen. It could be only happen once in my life, so I wanted to be a part of it.”

Jelah Anderson, Jasminn Dow, Angel Chedikah, Ashley Craig, Samantha Grant, Bradley Harris and Jericha White contributed to this report.