The Boyk Brief
Go into chambers with attorneys Chuck Boyk, Mike Bruno, Zac Shaffer, and the attorneys of Charles Boyk Law Offices on The Boyk Brief, as we talk with interesting personalities from the legal world, celebrities, experts, business & community leaders, and other engaging people about a variety of topics.
The Boyk Brief
Boyk Brief Episode 49 - Imagination Station & the 2024 Total Solar Eclipse
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Attorneys Chuck Boyk and Andrea Young talk with Chief Education Officer Sloan Eberly Mann and Chief Scientist Carl Nelson from Imagination Station, to find out more about the Toledo Science Center and the Total Eclipse of the sun occurring on April 8, 2024. All of North America will see a partial eclipse, but only a narrow path through the United States and Mexico will experience total darkness. The Toledo area is at the northern edge of totality, where the moon will completely block the sun.
You can check out more episodes of The Boyk Brief podcast on our website here: https://www.charlesboyk-law.com/the-boyk-brief-podcast/.
A video version of this episode of The Boyk Brief podcast is available on YouTube.
https://youtu.be/b2gBihuAtFA
Welcome to the BoIck Brief. I'm Attorney Andrea Young along with attorney Chuck Boik, and today we have special guests from the Imagination Station. I'd like to welcome Sloan Eberly Mann, Chief Education Officer, and Carl Nelson, Chief Scientist of Imagination Station. Welcome.
SPEAKER_00Thanks for having us.
SPEAKER_03Thank you for joining us. So I have always been a big fan of Imagination Station. I went there, I've taken my kids there, so I am delighted and I can't wait to pick your brains on some fun things. But first and foremost, can you just give a brief overview of what Imagination Station is and what it offers just for people who may not know?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, we're an interactive science center. The whole facility is over 10,000 square feet. About 60 to 70,000 of that are split up into different areas we call learning worlds. We have an area just for kindergarten aged kids and under. We have a water play area, an illusions area. We opened a new traveling exhibit about flight. We have a cafe, we have a gift shop. I mean, it's an experience for the entire family. You can probably, if you've never been there, you can spend all day going from exhibit to exhibit.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, and I would say that we're so much more than our physical building, too. I think that's what people think of most often when they think of the science center. But we do a huge variety of programming out in the community. We do workshops and science festivals, we have a giant inflatable planetarium that we take out. That's very fun. We just developed a program around making and tinkering, and we have a tinkering van that we take out into the community with 3D printers and laser cutters and robots. So yeah, the building is our is our heart, but we're really out there in so many different ways. That's fantastic.
SPEAKER_03How do you figure where you're gonna go with the tinkering van and out in the community?
SPEAKER_04That's a really interesting question. Um, we received a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services to develop this program to go out in the community and served individuals who are underrepresented in STEM education. And so we went around and kind of looked at Lucas County and we actually created a STEM desert map. So kind of similar to like the principles of food deserts areas in communities where they don't have access to high-quality food. We looked at areas that didn't have access to high-quality STEM education. And we used a variety of different markers to determine that. And then we worked with our partners in the community. So the Boys and Girls Club were a great partner, Sophia Quintero. We work with the Lucas County Public Libraries because they're everywhere in our communities. We're able to really target different areas and go out to do programming.
SPEAKER_03What's your favorite thing that you can take on the road that you can share with the kids in the community?
SPEAKER_04Oh my gosh, there's so much. We have these robots called spheros, and they're literally spheres that you control with an iPad, and the kids can program them to move and complete different challenges, and it's a pretty low barrier to entry. Like any age can come up and get some kind of output from the robot, but then you can level it up to the older kids to really get them engaged.
SPEAKER_03That's awesome. And so, do you also bring the community as far as students or groups into the Imagination Station and have programs or classes for them there?
SPEAKER_04Yep. So we serve, you know, most of Northwest Ohio and Southeast Michigan with our programming. Access is really important to us, so we have an adoptive school program. So schools that meet certain economic markers, you know, reduced uh free and reduced lunch for a certain percentage of their population can come into the science center at no cost. The teachers kind of identify some learning outcomes in advance of that to make sure that their trip is really meaningful. But we want to make sure that everyone's able to come in if you know families can't afford that.
SPEAKER_01So, what do students typically do when they visit Imagination Station?
SPEAKER_04There's a lot of different opportunities. One thing is certainly free exploration. So we allow times for kids to explore and have fun, to engage hand and hands-on learning, which is so vitally important. We have exhibit guides that help to structure that experience. So, and we have that by grade level. So if a fifth grade teacher wants to focus on forces in motion, then we have a whole curriculum that'll help support that while they're here. In addition, we just um opened our Key Bank Discovery Theater back in 2022, which is a large-screen digital theater where we can show educational films so the teachers can select from a whole catalog of films to help meet their educational goals. And then we have workshops that we offer as well. We call them our think tank workshops. So they can dissect an eye cow's eyeball if they want to, they can explore an owl pellet, they can build a jitter critter, um, so lots of different opportunities that way as well. And then lunch. They can eat lunch. That's always important. I know it's my kids, it would be a good idea. Right.
SPEAKER_03Is there an age maximum? So is there kids or adults that are too old to enjoy? I don't think that's possible.
SPEAKER_04Um, I mean, I think anyone that comes to the science center can have a fantastic time. Um go ahead, go ahead.
SPEAKER_00No, and you know, we have a tinkering space in the science center, and it's always interesting because families will come in and often the parents will sort of sit off to the side and let the kids sit at the table. But invariably, after about 10 minutes or so, the parents are like reaching across the table, they're grabbing some parts, they're beginning to like get interested, and they're starting to build their own jitterbug or whatever the activity is, we change it monthly. So it's really interesting to see how parents actually they do get drawn in to the activities that we're doing. So I would think that you know many of the things we do are appropriate for all ages, and people of all ages can find something intriguing and fun to do.
SPEAKER_01How many visitors do you have like in a calendar year?
SPEAKER_04About 200,000 come to visit the science center every year.
SPEAKER_03Do you have um any upcoming events that you want to tell the community about?
SPEAKER_04We have um a lot going on, particularly leading up to the solar eclipse. So um Carl just mentioned we opened Above and Beyond, which is our traveling exhibition right now. Um it's really fun. You get to um fly a fighter jet, you get to um experience zero gravity, so it's really a fun, engaging experience. We have an event coming up on March 2nd called Girl Power, and that's for um girls in third through eighth grade and their chaperones to come in and explore STEAM career opportunities. So we have Sydney Hamilton, she's an aerospace engineer with Boeing. She's coming in to talk about her work and help to inspire the girls. And then we have over a hundred women who have careers in STEAM, and they're volunteering their time to come in, run workshops, do hands-on activities at different um activity tables. So it's just really like a celebration of science, which is super fun for girls. Awesome. And you said that's March 2nd? March 2nd, yep. You have to register in ahead. You do, and it's on the home page of our website, imaginationstationtoledo.org.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, that sounds fantastic. Um, so let's talk about this little secret uh the eclipse that's coming up. Yeah. What can you guys tell me about it?
SPEAKER_00You know, we can kinda kind of sometimes refer to it as the Super Bowl of science for us. It'll be a total uh solar eclipse that will pass through Toledo. Um, in fact, all of North America on April 8th will experience a solar eclipse. A partial solar eclipse for the entire North American continent, but then there's a narrow path that goes starting in Mexico through Texas, up through Ohio, out through Maine, about 100 miles wide, where the sun will be totally blocked for varying degrees of time. Here in Toledo, we'll get about just under two minutes of the sun being totally blocked. Um little bit further south, near the center line of that and near Wapacanada, they'll have up to four minutes of totality. And I mean we can talk about the details of how that happens.
SPEAKER_03Please, yes, I'd love to hear it.
SPEAKER_00You know, you might be thinking back to your science class where you learned that the moon orbits the earth every month, right? So it's like, well, why don't we have an eclipse every month? Sure. Seems reasonable, right? Um and it turns out that the moon's orbit relative to the orbit of the earth around the sun is tilted by about five degrees. So sometimes the moon casts a shadow too high, sometimes it casts it too low. Uh two times during the year, there's a chance for it to cast a shadow right on the earth. And during that time, it's this sort of awe-inspiring experience of having the sun blocked out in the middle of the day. You know, historically people have been observing eclipses forever, but you know, it was only until recently we understood sort of the mechanics of how that happens. Um, you know, thousands of years ago, the Sumerians actually were able to predict when an eclipse would happen simply by collecting data. So they made so many observations over time, they began to identify patterns in how the eclipses occurred, and they were able to predict them. They didn't know what was causing them. You know, so they made up stories of demons eating the sun or dragons eating the sun, and if that happens, your reaction is to like probably make noise. You want to drive the demon away. You'd bang pans, they'd scream at the sun, shoot flaming arrows at the sun to reignite it. And it's it's easy to like kind of laugh at that and go, like, how how silly. But the kicker is it always worked because the sun always comes back. You know, talk to people that have experienced it, they're just like, you know, beforehand, they'd be like, oh, okay, yeah, the sun's gonna be blocked, whatever. Afterwards, they're like, I had no idea. They're just like awestruck um by that um shared experience.
SPEAKER_01So, what sort of programming is Imagination Station doing to uh commemorate this great event?
SPEAKER_04You know, April 8th is just one single day, so we're really um focused on all the days leading up to the eclipse and making sure that everyone can appreciate the science and the wonder of this like amazing celestial event that we all get to share. From a programming perspective, we are taking our Star Lab, our inflatable planetarium, out into the community. We're doing an earth and space festival and then a workshop that's focused specifically on the eclipse. We also developed a totally solar kit that will go out to schools in Lucas County, down in Dublin and Finlay as well, that contains six different activities, a little bit about the science behind the eclipse, some safe viewing glasses because safety is really important. I'm sure we'll talk about that. And then Carl and I are responsible for training eclipse ambassadors. So we put out a call to the community and said, is anyone interested in helping to educate their audience, whatever their audience might be, if it's students or if they work in a nursing home, folks living there, librarians, whoever it might be, in the science and wonder of the eclipse. And we had over a hundred people reach out and say they had interests. So starting this week, we're gonna start educating those folks and getting them ready to go out. It's really interesting. Um, you know, one person that put in an application is a bartender on Catab Island, and they're like, we're gonna do a big old party, and I won't be able to talk about what's actually happening with the folks that are here. Um, another woman down in Finley, her um son and daughter, well, I think it's her daughter and her future son-in-law, are getting married down there um during the eclipse, and they're gonna have a reception afterwards. So she's like, I want to be educated about everything in advance of that. So it's really neat to see these like kind of different audiences that are are feeling compelled to learn more and get involved.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I think Chuck, you need to let me have a day off so I can go to Kotaba Island for the eclipse viewing party. Come in.
SPEAKER_01For your education.
SPEAKER_03Is it too late if people want to still sign up to be an ambassador?
SPEAKER_04For the actual training that we're going to provide, yes, but we have um all the solar kits are available. We have a ton of information, educational information on our website too. Um, and the science center is certainly a resource for anyone that has questions.
SPEAKER_03So you did give us some fantastic glasses. We did. Um, I can't see anything. So for those that don't know the safety protocol, I mean, do I have to have these glasses to look at it? Tell me about that.
SPEAKER_04Yep, so that's a great question. So um the answer is um yes. The only period of time that you're able to view the sun without any protective, um appropriate protective gear is during totality. So if we're here in Toledo that's just shy of two minutes, um, and people might say, Well, when will I know if it's totality? You'll know it will be appreciably darker. Um, you know, you'll be able to see the stars. So a lot of folks that were here in 2017 might be saying, like, oh, what's the big deal? Like we had an eclipse, you know, seven years ago. Um, you know, what's so different about this time? Being in totality is like night and day, like it will be really different and really appreciable. And any period that's not totality during the partial eclipse, you'll want to wear protective eye gear. Um, if you have binoculars, you want to make sure that you have a solar filter on them and you want to make sure the solar filter is on the front of the binoculars. The same with the telescope. Um, and you can't stack sunglasses on top of each other to protect your eyes. Even, you know, glasses with a UV filter, you can't wear those. You need to have the proper, proper protection.
SPEAKER_03What about welders' glasses? If someone has welder's glasses, does that work to view?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, if you have the number 14 welders mask, that would work as well. The Mylar film solar glasses are probably easier to get a hold of and a lot less expensive for sure. And that's for direct viewing. There are other ways you can view the eclipse without actually looking at the sun. Um, the simplest thing you can do is poke a hole in a piece of cardboard, and that hole will actually image the partial phase of the solar eclipse. So you can, you know, with the sun behind you, hold that, um, cast the shadow on the ground, and you'll see the shape of the bite being taken out of the sun, if you will. Um, all sorts of other ways. You can actually just stick your hands together. The little spaces between your hands will cast multiple shadows on the ground, or multiple images, I should say, of the partial eclipse. A colander is something you commonly see on the internet. It's a popular way of imaging things. Even the leaves of trees, the spaces between the leaves, if you're outside, you will notice that the shadows cast by them will look like little crescents. And as you know, as that phase gets closer and closer towards totality, those shadows will become sharper and sharper. Because right now the sun is like a big soft box, it's a big extended source. And so when you look at a shadow on the ground, it looks kind of fuzzy around the edges. But as you get closer towards totality, it becomes more like a point source. Think of like a little LED flashlight, and the the shadows will become dramatically sharper. So that's definitely something to watch for as you approach totality. And um even the space around you, like animals, birds uh may be confused, bats may fly out in the middle of the day, crickets may start chirping, cicadas may start chirping as it gets dimmer and then stop during totality. Um so animals around us are very sensitive, obviously, to this change, and that's something to watch for. So yeah, just like watch the world around you.
SPEAKER_03Um is there an estimate of when this is going to happen, like the time-wise?
SPEAKER_00Oh, absolutely. At 3.12. And if you want to know for your specific location, you can go to our website and we have links to apps that will let you find out exactly the time. Because like I said, the shadow begins down in Mexico, moves across the U.S. So here in Toledo, totality will begin for us at 3.12, last for one minute 58 seconds. Um, if you're a little bit west of us, that'll start earlier. Near Ashtabula, it'll happen a little bit later. And that shadow, it's moving at almost 2,000 miles per hour, so it'll cross all of Ohio in about 11 minutes. So that's kind of an amazing fact that it's, you know, it's it's it's it's moving quickly and it actually speeds up as it moves further to the east.
SPEAKER_01So when was the last one, and then when's the next one?
SPEAKER_00The last one, I believe, in Toledo, the a total eclipse is 1806. You missed that one. Yeah, you'll probably miss the next one, which is in um 2099 here in Toledo. But an interesting point though is that that's a total eclipse in Toledo. And we say Toledo a lot, but really when you look at where the path of the shadow goes, we are so close to the edge that Sylvania is out of totality. I don't know why. So I'd like to say if you drew a line from the house of meats on Alexis to Aldi on a map, everything above that is not in totality. So it's it's a it's a you know, even our Sylvania friends have to come south to Toledo to actually be in the path of totality.
SPEAKER_03So can they come to Imagination Station?
SPEAKER_04And we would love for them to come to Imagination Station. We're gonna have a big celebration out in Festival Park and Promenade Park that day. So we're anticipating thousands of people will have music and food trucks and activities, and we'll make it an all-day celebration. Carl mentioned that totality starts at 3 12, but the entire um eclipse itself um is about two and a half hours in duration. So really you can make it a really nice afternoon at the science center.
SPEAKER_03What time does is there like a kickoff time at the science center?
SPEAKER_00Um we'll be open at 10 until 6. So yeah, all day.
SPEAKER_04Registration required? Nope, just come on down. And you know, it's April in Ohio, so it's definitely gonna be 75 degrees and sunny and beautiful. But people ask that a lot. Like, if it's cloudy, won't there be an eclipse? If even if it's cloudy, it will get dark, it'll still be appreciable the difference. So it'll still be worthwhile to get outside and and experience it.
SPEAKER_00And a year ago on April 8th, I should say, it was we kicked off this whole eclipse thing, and it was sunny, it was beautiful. So we're hoping for a repeat of that day on this April 8th.
SPEAKER_03Fingers crossed. Do you expect people outside of Toledo to come to Imagination Station for the eclipse?
SPEAKER_04Yeah, I think um, you know, the whole community is really excited about the potential impact of this. Um, there are estimates that we could double our population. Um, if you think about, you know, if Savania is out of totality and just a little bit south is everyone coming down 23 or 75, we're gonna be kind of like that first touch point from folks in Michigan that want to be able to experience this. So I think there's a huge potential to grow our population here during that time. Um, have people staying in hotels, eating in our restaurants, all that good stuff.
SPEAKER_00I think there are like 36 million people in the path of totality across the US. And then if you think about like on either side of that, like of an hour's drive, that would raise that total number of people that could like come into totality to be almost 75 million people. More people more cities are in this path of totality than the 2017 eclipse. So there's a potential for more Americans and Canadians and uh people in Mexico to see this as well.
SPEAKER_01So you talked about the total eclipse. Is there going to be a partial eclipse or how long is this whole thing gonna last?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, all across North America there will be a partial eclipse of the sun on this day to varying degrees, okay? As you get closer to the path of totality, that's where the sun will be completely blocked out, and there will be a partial eclipse. So, you know, an hour and a half or so before totality, the moon will begin to start obscuring the sun as it slowly marches across it. We hit totality, which will be for us two minutes, and then for the next hour and a half afterwards, the moon will slowly move away from the sun, and that'll be a partial phase as well. I like to say that anytime you look at the sun, you need protection. And during totality, the moon is your protection. Okay? So any of that partial phase, you need to have glasses, or you can do the indirect viewing things we suggested with you know putting your hands, the colander, the holes in paper. There's there's a ton of things that you can do, and we'll be building some of those partial uh indirect eclipse viewers at the science center before leading up to the day of um, because you know, people are gonna want to have that ability to look at it indirectly as well.
SPEAKER_03Do you have anything on your website to teach people how to build the indirect viewing?
SPEAKER_00We do. We've got a couple videos on there that lead you step by step through it. Um we actually have a kit that we'll be um handing out at the science center that has all the things you need to build an indirect viewer. Um so yeah, there's there's plenty of resources out there on our site.
SPEAKER_03Is there any uh safety concerns with driving during the time? Anything along those lines?
SPEAKER_00Take off your solar glasses when you're driving.
SPEAKER_04That's a good role.
SPEAKER_00Take them off.
SPEAKER_04Um, you know, that is a concern that we've heard voiced is that mainly from like law enforcement and first responders, in terms of they're hoping that people don't just get out of their cars and start viewing the eclipse. So um, you know, plan ahead. Don't be on the road at the time of the eclipse, have a place that you can go and view safely. Um, and then it I think it's a fair to anticipate that wherever you are to view, um, the roadways are gonna be moving a little bit slower afterwards. So make sure in advance you have a full tank of gas or some water in the car, food for the kids if they're gonna get hungry, because it'll probably take you a little bit longer than normal to get around that day.
SPEAKER_03Good idea. Can the eclipse be videoed or photographed? And is that safe to do?
SPEAKER_00Sure. I mean, if you take your um solar glasses and put it over the lens of your uh smartphone, you can certainly, you know, get images of the partial phase, um, even totality. Although I would have to say a better use of your phone during totality would be to point it at your friends and family. Because you are, if this is the first eclipse you've ever seen of total eclipse, um you're gonna want to experience it. You're gonna want to see that awe-inspiring thing happen in person. And I can guarantee you, NASA and millions of other people will have better photos, videos of that event than you will ever be able to capture on your cell phone or your camera. The thing you they won't be able to do though is capture the emotional impact it'll have on your family and yourself and the people around you. So put your phone down, point at everybody else, and enjoy the eclipse, enjoy that magical moment.
SPEAKER_03I love that. That's a great advice.
SPEAKER_00We do like a presentation where we have like a video that um sort of touches on that idea of like they interviewed people before the eclipse and said, So what do you think is gonna happen? And they were just like, Well, I don't know, it's just it's gonna get dark. And then afterwards they're they're more reflective, they feel like like that it was like an emotional experience, it was an awe-inspiring experience. Something that, you know, you think about it, the sun is what gives life to this planet, right? We would be hurtling through space on an ice ball if the sun wasn't here. And I think everybody at at all times throughout history, even today, like when that sun disappears in the middle of the day, even though we might have an inkling of what's going on with the moon orbiting the earth, it's still an experience of awe. I don't know how else to express it.
SPEAKER_01I'm actually excited about the eclipse now. So you've motivated me.
SPEAKER_02Not much excited, so congrats.
SPEAKER_03I'm glad to hear it. Thanks for joining us today.
SPEAKER_00Thank you.
SPEAKER_03Thanks for having us. This was fun.