Blog Assignment #7

Randy Pausch's Last Lecture

This video was about a man by the name of Randy Pausch, who believed in achieving his childhood dreams and enabling the dreams of others. Randy Pausch was diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer, and was told he only had around 3-6 months to live. Before he died on July 25th, 2008, he made this video. After doing a little research, I found that Randy was actually making this video for his small children to watch one day. This was the only way he would be able to encourage his children to pursue their dreams long after he is gone.

The first thing that Randy goes into is his childhood dreams. The dreams he mentions in this video are the following:

• Experiencing 0 gravity
• Being a part of the National Football League
• Being Captain Kirk
• Being an author in the World Book Encyclopedia
• Winning stuffed animals
• Being a Disney Imagineer

He goes on to explain that because he was so driven, he achieved all of his dream to some extent. He never joined the NFL but he had a wonderful coach that inspired him when he was younger. One thing that his coach said that really stuck with him was, "When your screwing up and nobody is saying anything to you anymore, that means they gave up." He may not have been in the National Football League but he bettered himself in a different way. A mental way. He obviously never became Captain Kirk but he did meet him. Another great quote from Randy to go with that dream would be, "Experience is what you get when you didn't get what you wanted."

He and his co-workers accomplished many different things that they did not expect. The had the "worlds" that the students created. In this the students (50 of them) at Carnegie Mellon University were put in groups and assigned a project. Once they completed the project they were assigned to a different group and a new project. They created "virtual worlds". Randy was completely blown away by the capabilities of the students. He them told them they did good but encouraged them to do better and they did! The project exploded and many students, all the faculty, and even parents came to watch these students preform. Some more of the many groups he created was the ETC, Java Languages, The Alice Project, and movie scripts.

During about the last 15 minutes or so of the video, Randy talks about roles. He proceeds to talk about his parents and what an impact they had on his life. "If your kid's want to paint on the walls, it'll be okay." His parents encouraged him and with that he became the man he is today. He also talks about his bosses and how you should form relationships with them so that it makes working more fun, and you can talk to them on a personal level. Students were also part of Randy'l life. The role of students in his life left a great impact on him. The main point that Randy really wanted to portray was "Have fun, help others, loyalty is a two-way street, listen to feedback and use it, show gratitude, don't complain-just work harder, and find the best in everyone-maybe their good side will come out eventually."