The essays tell what the first experience at the
ESA annual meeting was like for students- "A Day in the Life". We hope that students who are planning to go to ESA for the first time can read them and get useful info, learn about the meeting from a student's perspective, or at least maybe calm their nerves.

The following five essays very well resume the student experience at ESA annual meetings:

> TOTALLY OVERWHELMED is the best way I can describe my first ESA meeting...

> Plan before you go! Get involved! Meet new people!...

> I felt like I had been introduced to the club of ecologists, a club that was friendly and helpful...

> It is okay to take breaks!...

> ...a life-changing experience that opened my mind and heart to the many perspectives of ecology...