With less than two days to go before the total solar eclipse, a local teacher is sharing his experience traveling the world to be in the path of totality. His experience viewing the eclipse is helping students get ready.

Jonathan Mauer may be retired, but he still takes the opportunity to share his wealth of knowledge about the eclipse with students anytime he gets the chance. He recently shared with young students in the Gates Chili district.

Sharing his eclipse adventures with students is one of his favorite things to do.

“All day long I was sharing this eclipse presentation for eight different sessions, and to me that made all the effort I took in getting the photos a lot more worth it, because I was sharing it with someone,” Mauer said.

Mauer traveled to Costa Rica to be in the path of totality for the first time in 1991, and has been taking photos and sharing his experiences with students ever since.

More recently, he took his entire family to southern Illinois for the total solar eclipse in 2017.

“It was great to have the whole family there. It was a beautiful, clear day and it was the first experience for my children, and I was glad to be able to take them,” he said.

News10NBC photojournalist Daniel Mauer said he was skeptical of why his dad was taking him halfway across the country to see something that only lasts for a few minutes.

“I remember when he first announced that we were going to drive halfway across the country to see something that happens for two minutes, I thought he was a madman,” Daniel said.

But he says the experience is something he’ll never forget.

“It’s such a fleeting moment that if you’re taking photos. you’re definitely going to want to take a moment to step away from the viewfinder or kind of divide, kind of plan ahead, how much time you’r’re going to give yourself to take photos and then leave yourself plenty of time to look up with your own eyes,” Daniel said.

That’s something that Jonathan, and all of Rochester, will have a chance to do on Monday.

“I always tell the students, if you’ve seen a sunset. that’s many times brighter than an eclipse. If you’ve seen the moon at night, it’s many times brighter than a total eclipse. And this eclipse coming is going to be darker than the one we had in Illinois because the moon is closer. It’s going to be the closest it’s ever been,” Jonathan Mauer said.

Even though you can take off your eclipse glasses during totality, you’ll want to keep them on before and after the eclipse.