Chelen Johnson
I think that the most surprising thing about it was how young everyone was! I absolutely did not expect that, maybe because the amateur community is so much older by comparison, and is mainly composed of retired people.
I didn’t know just how much data is publicly available. Anyone can do astronomy – you just need to come up with a question and figure out how to use the archives.
I think that more than anything else, hearing these kids talk about their work really convinced me how valuable this experience is for students.