Surprising Levels of Praise for my Hayes Forum 2nd Plance Finish

I have been repeatedly honored an complimented for my Hayes Forum Prize. I have been hesitant to post this entry for fear that it would appear arrogant or prideful. However, I have decided that since I am repeating the accolades of others and not directly honoring or praising myself, this is no more prideful than my original announcement about winning the prize or my first journal article.

I thank God the Creator for creating me with the abilities and giving me the opportunities to compete in the Hayes Forum.

• Greg (the 1st place winner) and I were featured on the Physics Department Homepage.

• Since the deadline for submitting abstracts to the Forum was extended more than once, I thought that few people were applying to enter the competition; however, as you can see above and in the full departmental article, the Forum, "which is based on both written and oral presentations, involved approximately 40 students from the College of Mathematical and Physical Sciences." So, even being selected as one of the 10 presenters in my College was an honor. I am glad I did not know how competitive this was before I presented, otherwise I would have been even more anxious.
  
• Both a professor and one of my fellow graduate students asked for copies of my presentation.
• The ΣΞ science research honor society invited me to a banquet in which guests would pay $30.00

• Normally, an aspiring ΣΞ member must be nominated by two current members to be eligible for membership, but Hayes Forum winners receive those nominations automatically.
  
• I received a congratulatory letter, which had a bit of gender confusion in my address, from the Dean of the Graduate School.