Chelen Johnson
I enjoyed the whole week [at my first AAS]. The aspect that was best was connecting with my teammates. The personal contact at this early stage was important.
[I did not anticipate] meeting a Nobel Prize Winner – Saul Perlmutter – and getting a picture with him.
This experience convinced me even further that I can push myself to learn even more each and every day. I started out feeling very overwhelmed and unprepared last year. I forced myself to work through my unease and wound up much more comfortable. I learned that astronomers are much more down-to-earth than I envisioned a lot of them to be and so many of them are very willing to go out of their way to explain things when we have questions.
