Crafts are available for RIT Eclipse Fest attendees to make eclipse-related art inside the Gordon Field House hours before totality.
A large crowd of students wait for doors to open at the RIT Eclipse Fest, hosted by College Activities Board, in the Gordon Field House at RIT.
Students check in at the RIT Eclipse Fest inside the Gordon Field House on RIT’s campus in Henrietta, N.Y. on April 8th, 2024.
Hours before the moments of totality, hundreds of students, faculty and staff fill the Gordon Field House, getting food and drink, dancing to electronic music, playing games and picking up festival t-shirts at the RIT Eclipse Fest.
Students line up to enter the Gordon Field House during the start of the RIT Eclipse Fest hours before heading outside to view the total solar eclipse.
A student lays down on Greek Lawn wearing eclipse glasses on RIT’s campus in Henrietta, N.Y. on April 8th, 2024 as he waits for the moments of totality. By 3pm, a good portion of the fields outside the residence halls were filled with students who gathered to view the historic event.
A person dressed as Po, from the children’s television show “Teletubbies”, crosses the Greek Lawn on RIT’s campus as large groups of students settled in outside finding a good spot to view the total eclipse.
People gather outside of the Gordon Field House to watch the solar eclipse on RIT’s campus in Henrietta, N.Y. on April 8th, 2024.
Members of Photo House, a special interest housing group at RIT, wait for the solar eclipse with their cameras on Greek Lawn in Henrietta, N.Y., on April 8th, 2024. Students came prepared with solar filters to safely view and photograph the eclipse, but as the skies darkened with a thick layer of clouds, the filters, like the eclipse glasses, were not needed.
People gather outside of the Gordon Field House to watch the solar eclipse on RIT’s campus in Henrietta, N.Y. on April 8th, 2024. Over 100,000 eclipse glasses were handed out all over the Rochester region, but were not needed in the cloudy overcast skies at the moments around totality.
RIT students Kristy Sorochan, left, and Joseph Edleblute, right, adjust the focus of a 11x14 view camera. Sorochan and Edleblute are both students in the College of Art and Design and members of Photo House, a special interest house for RIT students and Sorochan brought out the large-format camera to make a print form called cyanotypes from the negatives.
Trey Choate of RIT uses his phone to document the solar eclipse outside of Sebastian and Lenore Rosica Hall in Henrietta, N.Y. on April 8th, 2024.
Liam Myerow watches the solar eclipse on RIT’s campus in Henrietta, N.Y. on April 8th, 2024. Students from Photo House set up a variety of cameras outside Sebastian and Lenore Rosica Hall before totality.
People gather outside of Sebastian and Lenore Rosica Hall to watch the solar eclipse on RIT’s campus in Henrietta, N.Y. on April 8th, 2024.

RIT Eclipse Fest

Caitlyn Daproza

On April 8th, 2024, students, faculty, and visitors of RIT gathered at the university wide Eclipse Fest to commemorate the rare Total Solar Eclipse. Hosted at the Gordon Field House, the event that offered games, crafts, music, astronomy themed drinks and snacks, and t-shirts. As totality approached Rochester, participants sat outside of the Field House and on Greek Lawn to watch the overcast skies turn dark for several minutes of the afternoon.