A few weeks ago I got an e-mail from Dr. Hawkins, my professor over the summer in Guatemala. He gave us some information about upcoming conferences that we could present at, and then told us that we had to apply for the BYU Inquiry Conference. I had thought about applying, but I wasn't really sure if I really wanted to put myself through it. The presenters give a fifteen minute presentation on their research, then have ten minutes for question and answer. I just wasn't if I wanted to stand up in front of people for half an hour as they judge my research. It is a good experience to get feedback on your research and improve it for later publication. Even to just get more out of your research experience. I wasn't sure how much the benefits outweighed the costs of speaking in front of people.
Well, after I read Dr. Hawkin's e-mail I decided to go for it. After all, Dr. Hawkins was very adamant that we did apply and whether or not our papers ever get published depends largely on him. I looked up the information for the Inquiry Conference and found out that that exact day was the deadline for applying. So I submitted my paper for evaluation around 8:00 P.M. on the last day to apply. Two days later I got an e-mail saying that I had been accepted to present.
As I read the e-mail I didn't know how to feel. I had kind of hoped that I wouldn't get accepted, and then I wouldn't have to present. I was also very excited that I did get accepted and that I really was going to get the chance to be in the Inquiry Conference. I have been going to the conference every year since I have been at BYU, so it is pretty cool to me that this year I will actually be a presenter.
The conference is now less than two weeks away. I am nervous about getting up and presenting, but I have done that a lot in classes and know what I need to work on for my presentation. What I am really nervous about is the question and answer part. I can't just present something that I have prepared. I can only try to anticipate what questions will be asked. Someone could ask me a question about my research that should have been really obvious to me. Someone could ask a question that I should know the answer to, but I don't. Hopefully I will be prepared to answer any questions that audience members do have, and hopefully people will have questions so I don't have to stand there for ten minutes.
Another thing that I am nervous about in an upcoming phone interview I have for an internship with a non-profit group called Reading to Kids. I really hope that I will be able to answer the questions that I get well so that I can have this internship. It is an unpaid internship, but I think that the experience I get would be really valuable to me in the future, especially when I look for a full time job. I have never met the person I am interviewing with, so I really have no idea what to expect from the interview.
So these two things have put some additional stress on me that make me feel in a permanent state of nervousness. I will be glad when they are both are over. I think that in the end I will be glad that I tried for both of these things though. Things that are hard for me to do like these always make me glad that I did it afterwards because it only makes me stronger and more expereinced.
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