Chelen Johnson
It was wonderful to see the students from last year presenting their posters and talking with astronomers and teachers from all over the world.
It was very special to be in the room when the announcement of planet Kepler 10b (an estimated 1.4 X the size of the Earth) was discovered. I turned to my student Inga and asked, "How does it feel to be one of the first people on planet Earth to know about this discovery?" She replied, "I never thought of it like that ... it's pretty cool."
I gave a presentation on my group's experience with NITARP at a dinner for about 100 members of the Waynflete School community[..]. The crowd was very impressed with the program and the idea of having students not only conduct authentic scientific research, but then also be able to present their findings to the scientific community.