On Saturday, I had the distinct pleasure of attending the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology’s Annual Honors and Awards banquet. Other then commencement, this is the largest honorary event of the school year held by the school.

I was happy to have my achievements at this school recognized in a way that was visible to my family, friends, and the community as a whole. I was also happy to see that my hard work has paid off in a way other than good grades.

I won two awards from the CSSE department. The first was the Doc Criss Outstanding Senior Project Award. This award is

Awarded annually to the most outstanding computer science or software engineering senior project or thesis.

I was pleased to receive this with two of my classmates, Eric Brynsvold and Jon Atkinson. The other award that I ended up winning was the Addison-Wesley Outstanding Senior Award, an individual honor. This award is

Presented to the senior computer science or software engineering student who, in the opinion of the faculty, has distinguished him(her)self in academics, service, character, and attitude, and who has the promise of an outstanding career in some aspect of computer science.

The reason this award was so special to me was that I have only been a Computer Science major for two years. Prior to switching, I was a mechanical engineering major. I worked hard in my last two years at Rose-Hulman, and I’m happy to claim this award.

Other than pride and bragging rights, these awards came with special perks. I received a check with the Outstanding Senior Project award, and I received The Art of Computer Programming, Volumes 1-3 in a sweet boxed set. The following is a stock image of what I received: