Southeast MO State releases plans for 2024 solar eclipse

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. (KBSI) – Southeast Missouri State University will again serve as a front-row seat for the Great American Solar Eclipse on Monday, April 8, 2024.

There will be educational opportunities, fun, games, and one of the greatest shows on earth to close out the university’s sesquicentennial celebration.

Cape Girardeau is near the eclipse centerline and will experience totality (darkness as the moon passes in front of the sun) for more than four minutes starting at 1:58:22 p.m.

Eclipse viewing locations will be available on Normal Avenue and the River Campus.

Southeast also has an afternoon of activities planned on campus for students and campus community.

Classes will be canceled from 11 a.m.–2:30 p.m. to allow students to experience the eclispe and several planned activities.

Starting at 11 a.m., SEMO will host a block party on Normal Avenue to include eclipse-themed games, inflatables, a student organization fair, kickoff to SEMO’s Greek Week, and food trucks. Normal Avenue will be closed to traffic beginning Sunday, April 7, at 9 p.m.

Southeast’s River Campus will take an artistic approach to viewing the eclipse, with live performances by music, theatre and dance students from the Holland College of Arts and Media. Also on the lineup are displays, exhibitions, interactive activities, food trucks, a photo booth, jewelry making, and more.

SEMO has various guest speakers, including two from NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center scheduled to appear in Academic Auditorium beginning at 10:30 a.m. Confirmed NASA guests include:

• Matt McSavaney is a lead with the Architecture Baseline Definition team with the Artemis Moon to Mars Program Office at NASA Marshall Space Flight Center. He has degrees in physics and astrophysics. McSavaney has been working on the Artemis project for more than 20 months and managing Enterprise-level Systems Engineering & Integration for the NASA Artemis Missions, performing large-scale integration across NASA’s flagship human spaceflight programs within the Artemis Campaign Development Directorate necessary to architect, design, and execute the Artemis missions. Prior to his work on Artemis Matt worked in a variety of roles as a NASA engineer at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center.
• Blake Parker is a payload operations and integration specialist at NASA Marshall Space Flight Center. Parker has a degree in Aerospace engineering and more than a decade of experience in developing procedures for International Space Station experiments to be performed by astronaut crew members, supporting real-time console operations during experiments as a subject matter expert, and specializing in procedures for experiments performed in the Microgravity Science Glovebox (MSG) and Life Science Glovebox (LSG).

Southeast invites area high schools to view the eclipse and tour campus on April 8. The Office of Admissions will host a brief program, followed by a walking tour and lunch before joining the SEclipse Block Party on Normal Avenue.

All activities are open to the campus community and are free of charge, with the exception of items purchased at food trucks.

Viewing a partial eclipse can only be done safely with special solar eclipse glasses. Once the eclipse hits totality, the glasses can be removed. Southeast will have a limited number of solar glasses available at its viewing events for the campus community.

Related stories:

SEMO Eclipse Expo prepares public for upcoming total solar eclipse