The 46-Year Homework Assignment That 100 People Remembered

Most homework is due the next morning. Patrick Moriarty gave his students an assignment that would take 46 years to complete.

The Longest Homework Assignment in History

In 1978, Moriarty was a 22-year-old earth science teacher at Webster Central School District near Rochester, New York. One day, he handed his 9th-grade class materials listing 50 upcoming solar eclipses. He pointed to one date - April 8, 2024 - and told them to circle it. Then he told them they would all meet on that day.

He wasn't joking. For the next 16 years, Moriarty made the same promise to every earth science class he taught. Students who passed through his classroom in the 1980s and into the mid-1990s all received the same instruction: mark the date, and show up.

46 Years Later

In 2022, Moriarty created a Facebook group to remind his former students of the reunion. Hundreds responded. On April 8, 2024, now 68 years old, Moriarty hosted more than 100 former students at his home in the Rochester area. They came from Boston, Minneapolis, Virginia, and Detroit. Nick Stathis, from the class of 1982, drove five hours to be there. He went on to become an earth science teacher himself - a career he credits directly to Moriarty.

Rochester Was Cloudy. Nobody Left.

As it happened, clouds rolled over Rochester on the day of the eclipse, blocking the view for most of the gathering. It didn't matter. Former student Kevin Thompson summed it up: "The longest homework assignment in the history of any teacher."

Moriarty said the event was never really about the eclipse. "When I had these kids, they were 9th graders and 9th graders wear a teenage mask," he explained. "Now they're adults and the mask is off." Looking out at more than 100 people who had traveled across the country to stand in his backyard, he said he could still see their ninth-grade faces on them.

One More Promise

Before the gathering wrapped up, Moriarty made one more announcement: he plans to host another reunion for the 2044 total solar eclipse visible over Wisconsin. He'll be 88 years old. Based on the turnout in 2024, nobody doubted he would show up.