SPS’s Influence is Written in the Stars after Eclipse Viewing Event
University of West Florida unveils their newest telescope.
UWF SPS Chapter.
Initiating a new era of wonder and curiosity on campus, our SPS chapter at the University of West Florida (UWF) cohosted a remarkably successful viewing of last spring’s Great North American Eclipse. Since then, we’ve continued to see a spiked interest in physics across the university’s student body that we intend to capitalize on in the coming years.
The April 8, 2024, event we put on in collaboration with our campus faculty organization, LEAD, drew a remarkable and historic crowd to UWF’s campus—over 300 people! Even dense cloud coverage didn’t keep them away from the stellar spectacle. It was the largest event in UWF history aside from music, art, and sporting events, and put physics directly in the spotlight. Local astronomers, professors from neighboring colleges, and Pensacola’s regional news station WEAR ABC 3 all attended.
Attendees enjoyed collectively looking toward our star, even sharing eclipse viewers with one another so that everyone could catch a glimpse of the partial eclipse. The excitement and spirit of the community was felt among all attendees as people cheered for every break in the clouds.
Despite cloudy skies, more than 300 people attended the University of West Florida’s eclipse viewing event!
UWF SPS Chapter.
It would be a massive understatement to say the event met our chapter’s outreach goals, and we were encouraged that many attendees displayed a casual or academic interest in physics. This marks a significant period in our chapter’s presence on UWF’s campus.
One of our primary goals is to provide educational opportunities to our community at little or no cost to attendees and members. The eclipse viewing was a great example of this. As a student-led organization, we get student struggles, especially financial ones, as our university has a large population of students from underprivileged backgrounds. While this may hinder our opportunities, we’ve noticed a return of eagerness to participate among club members, and SPS has an overwhelmingly positive reputation around campus.
This event also piqued students’ interest in what our club has to offer. As we move through an extremely active 11-year solar cycle, one providing auroras reaching all the way to Pensacola, we’re seeing increased interest and engagement with our club, something we intend to capitalize on. The future of UWF’s SPS chapter is clear: increased engagement means increased opportunities for sharing the wonders of physics.
Our task for this academic year is to use this momentum to encourage the pursuit of scientific knowledge. We hope to showcase the vastly diverse subfields of physics and their appearance and influence in people’s lives through more community outreach, and we intend to encourage anyone and everyone to pursue physics—through college or engaging their curiosity in other ways.
