Polk County Education
12A Polk County Itemizer-Observer • June 28, 2017
ACADEMIC HONORS
Mellein named to honor roll
OSHKOSH, Wis. — Jennifer Mellein, of Monmouth, was
named to the honor roll at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh
for the spring 2017 semester.
To qualify, a student must take at least 12 credits and have a
grade-point average of at least 3.3.
Witwer-Dukes graduates from St. Olaf
NORTHFIELD, Minn. — Madeleine Witwer-Dukes, of Mon-
mouth, graduated from St. Olaf’s College on May 28. Witwer-
Dukes studied psychology and French.
Costa receives certificate
FRONT ROYAL, VA — Lucas Costa, of Monmouth, a senior at
Randolph-Macon Academy, has been honored with the AP Sta-
tistics Outstanding Performance certificate for the 2016-17
school year at Ralph-Macon Academy. Costa was a senior at the
time of the award.
SCHOOL NOTES
Meyer retires from school board
DALLAS — Dallas school board member Lu Ann Meyer re-
tired from the board after serving 12 years on Monday.
At the end of Monday’s school board meeting, she thanked
her fellow board members and the district.
“I want to thank my fellow board members for their com-
mitment to this position. It comes with a multitude of respon-
sibilities and challenges. All of you have been absolutely won-
derful to work with,” she said. I’m especially thankful for the
trust and collaboration that we have built in the district during
the time I’ve served on this board. I don’t think we have to
look too far to see that we are miles ahead of other districts in
how we deal with issues.”
LUKAS EGGEN/ Itemizer-Observer
NASA scientist Lou Mayo gave a presentation on June 21 about the Great American Eclipse.
NASA scientist explains eclipse
By Lukas Eggen
The Itemizer-Observer
MONMOUTH — Why
does a total solar eclipse
happen? If the sun rises in
the east, why will the West
Coast see the Great Ameri-
can Eclipse first? How will
animals be affected?
Those questions and
more were answered during
a Meet a Sun Scientist event
on June 21 at Monmouth Li-
brary.
NASA astronomer Lou
Mayo presented over
livestream and answered
questions about the eclipse.
The presentation was part of
the NASA @ My Library pro-
gram. Monmouth is one of
three libraries in the U.S. to
take part in the program.
Mayo’s presentation cov-
ered a variety of topics from
eye safety to why some parts
of the country will only see a
partial eclipse, to what parts
of the country have the best
chance for a clear sky on
Aug. 21. Good news for Ore-
gonians — generally if you
leave the coasts out of it, the
weather situation gets better
as you go (from east to)
west, Mayo said.
Just how does a solar
eclipse happen?
“The moon moves direct-
ly in front of the disc of the
sun,” Mayo said. “The moon
is about 400 times smaller
than the sun, but is also 400
times closer so it appears to
be almost precisely the same
size in the sky.”
Once the question-and-
answer period began, Mayo
talked on a variety of sub-
jects — including why the
west will see the eclipse first,
even though the sun rises in
the east.
“The moon moves to the
east and the earth is spin-
ning to the east,” Mayor
said. “You get the west-to-
east motion of the eclipse as
a result.”
One area NASA will be re-
searching is how the eclipse
will affect plants and animals.
“Animals will think it’s
night time so they may go to
nest,” Mayo said. “Cows will
think it’s time to turn
around and go back to the
barn. We have evidence that
some plants will close up
thinking it’s night time. The
temperature can drop by as
much as 20 degrees.”
Once the total eclipse hits,
stars and planets will be-
come visible. The total
eclipse will last, on average,
about 2 minutes and 40 sec-
onds, Mayo said.
Perhaps Mayo’s best ad-
vice? Be ready to experience
something cool.
“This is a bucket-list kind
of event,” he said.
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