The National Science Teacher Association (NSTA) has a national conference once a year for all of its members nationwide, and this spring I was lucky enough to attend this function. The NSTA is an association made of educators, researchers, experts in education, and other stakeholders to advise “Congress and the public on science education policy and funding” and spread the newest knowledge of science education amongst professionals in the U.S. The conference consisted of 1,200 presentations, sessions, and hands-on activities, over 400 exhibits, and social and networking events. In order to organize networking and give the conference some focus, four “conference strands” were established for educators to follow. The overarching “strands” or themes of the conference were: Natural Resources, Natural Partnerships; Teaching Every Child by Embracing Diversity; The Science of Design: Structure and Function; and Student Learning- How Do We Know What They Know? The Natural Resources, Natural Partnership strand focuses on how to make smart decisions regarding natural resources, how to engage in environmental groups, and how to build and sustain a future within natural resources. This strand session was meant to help educators identify possible natural resource partnerships. The Teaching Every Child by Embracing Diversity strand focused on the diversity of science classrooms and that “educators must provide opportunities to meet the needs of all students, including English language learners, students with special needs, and those with diverse learning styles and abilities.” In these strand sessions, teachers will learn how to accommodate the needs of these students. The Science of Design: Structure and Function strand sessions focused on the movement of engineering in science education with the idea that “designing for the future requires imagination and a commitment to sustainability.” These strand sessions used Chicago as an excellent example of engineering. Finally, the Student Learning-How Do We Know What They Know strand sessions focused on the idea that to “successfully monitor learning requires authentic assessment, including formative and summative strategies. During the conference, I focussed on attending sessions that were about Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and students with learning disabilities. It was extremely hard to pick a session to go to each day because there were so many options and they all sounded so interesting! The first day I was at the conference, I walked 8 miles going from session to session. It turns out that McCormick place is actually the largest convention center in the United States. Traveling from session to session was actually very cool because there were so many teachers at the conference and you could easily run in to someone new and strike up a conversation. When I was traveling to a session on the last day of the conference, I actually met a veteran teacher that uses blended learning in her classroom. She was able to clear up a few facts about blended learning for me and I shared what I was learning about blended learning at UC. My favorite things about the conference were the exhibition hall, and the Reaching and Teaching Every Student by Using 5E's Instruction session. The exhibition hall honestly blew my mind-there were so many awesome and intriguing science companies selling and promoting their products! I loved walking from booth to booth collecting free resources and thinking about what kind of resources I want in my classroom when I become a science teacher. My favorite booth in the exhibition hall was the National Geographic textbook exhibit. The spokespeople at the exhibit took my questions very seriously and they showed me the types of textbooks that I could use in my classroom. The National Geographic textbooks are beautiful and have tiered reading levels for low, on target, and accelerated readers with the same content. All of the textbooks also come with online resources and labs for the students to do. Super cool! I loved the 5E's session I went to because it was really applicable to where I am in my science teaching career. I use the 5E's during every science lesson plan I create and this session heightened my understanding of the topic and gave me new ideas for the classroom. This conference was wonderful and I enjoyed every (exhausting) minute of it! I cannot wait to attend the next regional conference in Columbus, Ohio in 2016 and the next national conference in Nashville. I feel so privileged to be part of a gigantic organization of dedicated and enthusiastic educators that inspire me for my future career.