NATCHEZ — Standing next to 78 of his fellow Mississippi College students, Bryce Murray took a look around and felt honored to be recognized for his academic performance, leadership skills and community service.

Murray, a senior at MC and an Adams County Christian School 2010 graduate, was inducted in early December on the Clinton campus as a new member of the 2013-2014 Who’s Who Among Students in American Universities & Colleges, which is one of the nation’s premier honor societies.

The students being inducted attended a Dec. 9 luncheon where Murray said he was surrounded by what he felt was the best and brightest from MC.

“You look around and see all the other people who are so involved in so many different aspects that it’s nice to be able to sit in the same group with them,” Murray said. “It’s definitely an honor, because a lot of the people I looked up to when I got here were also selected for Who’s Who.”

Murray arrived at MC intending to play football at the oldest college in Mississippi, but he quickly realized academics needed to be his main focus.

“I went to one preview day for football and just realized it wasn’t for me,” Murray, who played football at ACCS, said. “So I’m double majoring in computer science and physics with a minor in math.

“I’ve always been interested in technology, so I decided to take the computer science route.”

Murray said he’s nearly finished with his computer science classes and is starting to get into the majority of his physics classes with one more year left at MC.

“Some of the computer science classes have been pretty tough, but physics is a little more interesting because it makes you think a little harder or look at things a different way,” Murray said. “In the class I just took what is called modern physics. We read a lot of papers Einstein wrote dealing with special relativity.

“It’s all really interesting.”

Murray is involved in a number of organizations on campus including the Shawreth Order of Mississippi College, which is a men’s service organization, and Mortar Board, which is a national college senior honor society.

Staying involved is something Murray said was a high priority for him since his first day on campus.

“Being a smaller school, there are 100 organizations that want you to be a part of, so it’s really not difficult to get involved with something,” Murray said. “You just have to prioritize what you’re doing and find a way to make it happen.”

Murray will begin his last year at MC in August and start applying for graduate school programs next fall.

“I’m going to go somewhere for electrical engineering, but I’m not sure where yet,” Murray said. “I’m kind of keeping my doors open and seeing what comes up.

“It’s going to be tough leaving MC because I’ve made so many relationships and grown there, but it will be time to leave and go grow somewhere else.”

Murray is the son of Bryant and Melanie Murray of Natchez.