Two very climactic and entertaining natural events struck SCH the first few weeks of April. On the fifth, an earthquake shook Philadelphia, causing the entire SCH campus to collapse into the ground, yielding multiple casualties. Later, on the eighth, all 1000+ students at SCH students started attacking each other in an eclipse-induced panic. April fools. What I meant to say was that two almost unnoticeable natural events hit campus, first the leftovers of an earthquake from New Jersey, then an eclipse days later with overcast skies. Womp-womp.
As students sat in advisory on Wednesday, April 5th, brief rumbling was felt on campus. No physical damage was reported and, unfortunately, no interesting material for a Campus Lantern article was produced. The worst effects of the earthquake were mild confusion and a happy surprise that something interesting happened during advisory. The earthquake began at 10:23 and ended thirty seconds later.
Junior Willie Lamb reported, “When the earthquake started, my initial reaction was ‘Is this an earthquake? That’s soooo cool.’ Then Ms. List wondered if it was just the wind. So then I was a little less excited. But then we found out it was an earthquake and it was exciting.” Ava Szalay, a senior, said she “actually liked it” because “it felt like a little ride.” Another senior, Anya Rosenbloom, was “glad to find out it was an earthquake and not a bomb.” Others, like Junior Thomas Stratz, “couldn’t even feel that jawn.”
At 10:23:30, you may have been thinking, “Oh my god, how could this possibly get better?”, and then three days later, the moon ate the sun. In the olden days, you would perhaps feel the urge to shed blood, or run around in panic; however, SCH faculty and students did not have such an extreme reaction.
At the peak of the solar eclipse, thick clouds covered the sun, causing an extremely underwhelming experience for all SCH students and faculty, as well as anybody else watching in Chestnut Hill.
“It was mid,” said junior Michael Lee. It’s safe to say that most of the custom-issued Springside Chestnut Hill eclipse glasses went to waste, unless you’re like Noah Mclaughlin, who preferred wearing his despite “literally not seeing anything.” He later recounted, “Sometimes, you will never know the value of a moment until it becomes a memory.”
