A previously recorded L\lecture presented by Debra Ross, Chair of Rochester’s Eclipse Task Force, and Co-Chair of the AAS National Solar Eclipse Task Force. Writing Western New York’s Eclipse Story Together.
Having witnessed 2017’s Great American Eclipse in Missouri and understanding its implications for the Rochester area in 2024, Debra started the Rochester Eclipse Task Force. The task force now has over 750 members across many sectors, and the Rochester area has become known as the most engaged U.S. region preparing for totality. After the American Astronomical Society’s Solar Eclipse Task force held its meeting in the Rochester region in 2022, Debra was asked to co-chair the National task force to help other communities learn from Rochester’s preparations.
Ms. Ross will discuss what’s going to happen in our area on April 8, what makes it such a transformational experience, how to experience the eclipse safely, and how everyone should prepare to craft their own eclipse story, making the most of this moment in their own personal history and in Western NY’s history. She emphasizes, “Life is about writing your own story and you want this…to be a chapter that you look back on and you talk about for the rest of your life.” She’ll also tell the story of how Rochester’s Eclipse Task Force has carefully crafted Rochester’s eclipse narrative for the past seven years so that it will be a uniquely memorable and positive chapter in Rochester’s 21st-century story.
Ms. Ross is the founder and publisher of the community websites KidsOutAndAbout.com and BeyondtheNest.com. This network started in Rochester 23 years ago and now serves 52 regions in the U.S. and Canada, with 15 million visitors per year and 800,000 subscribers to a weekly e-newsletter.
Registration: $5 – $20 sliding scale fee. (A Zoom link will be sent to registered participants on January 26.)
Proceeds from the collected registration fee will benefit the Cobblestone Society & Museum, a 501c3 nonprofit organization.
Book online with Credit Card or Paypal or call (585) 589-9013. A link to this program will be sent to paid registrants within one day of payment.
