Chelen Johnson
This experience has completely changed my once shallow view of astronomy and astronomers.
To me what stood out [at my first AAS] was the wide variety of work – from characterization of the structure of the Milky Way (more of a challenge than I ever knew!) to the search for and characterization of exoplanets to the understanding of how quasar evolution relates to the origins of the Universe.
I love having this experience of seeing how astronomers work, and my goal is to then take that and be able to explain it to our students.