Lessons Learned: Guiding Students through their first ACS Conference in the time of COVID-19

COVID-19 has had a profound effect on the education of senior high school students and junior undergraduates. This disruption was severe to participation in scientific communication and activities that sought to foster human connections and the sharing of ideas. Conferences in particular had to adapt-- either transitioning to completely remote or remote with the possibility of an in-person component. In this work, we seek to capture the experience of senior high school summer interns as they attend their first national academic conference during the time of COVID-19. This work summarizes relevant discussions for first-time attendees such as how to decide upon which talks to attend and how to be an active listener to material outside of ones current knowledge base. Finally, this work discusses the benefits and challenges of the hybrid format and briefly offers suggestions for organizers and attendees moving forward