Teachers Making an Impact

Students Come Through with a Promise Fulfilled

You may consider family reunions as good things.

This reunion is a little different, but just as good (if not better.)

Patrick Moriarity started teaching science as a 22 year-old in 1978 for the Webster Central School District in New York State. For that class and everyone that followed, he promised his students they would reunite for the 2024 total solar eclipse.

I think it’s safe to say that Mr. Moriarty's skill and dedication as a teacher were validated as former students descended on his home to watch the celestial event with their former teacher.

"It's not about the eclipse," he told the beaming crowd. "It's about you being here to share this time with my family, me and each other."

For two former students, Kevin Thompson and Chuck O'Brien, participating in the reunion was finishing off the "longest homework assignment in history."

Nick Stathis, another 1982 alumnus who made a five-hour journey for the gathering, echoed that sentiment. "It's a tribute to both the eclipse but also the power of teaching,"

Though clouds obscured the celestial views in Rochester, the communal atmosphere more than compensated. "Everybody got so quiet and just let the environment around them take over," Mr. Moriarty reflected. "It just seemed very magical."

"He wasn't just a great teacher. He was an inspirational teacher," Mr. O'Brien effused.

Video of the event after the paywall