Blog #7

Randy Pausch Last Lecture: Achieving Your Childhood Dream's

Randy Pausch was a wonderful Professor at Carnegie Mellon. He inspired so many as he gave "The Last Lecture" at Carnegie Mellon annual school lecture. He first began telling the audience how he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and was given three to six months to live. He didn't want the audience to feel sorry for him or to pity him because he had something more important to do, which we find out at the end of the video was for his children. The topic for the lecture was Achieving Your Childhood Dreams under three sub-topics which are;"My childhood dreams, Enabling the dreams of others, and lesson learned how you can achieve your dream or enable the dreams of others.
Randy Pausch was a happy little boy who always smiled. His first childhood dream on his list was to being at zero gravity. He was able to achieve this goal by having something to bring to the table. He was faced with a brick wall but overcame the obstacles by having determination. His second dream on the list was to play for the NFL. Although he did not accomplish this dream he got more stuff valuable then playing for the NFL. "Experiences is what you get when you didn't get what you wanted" He learned the power of enthusiasm and fundamentals. He also achieved another childhood dream by writing an article that was put in the encyclopedia. Randy wanted to be like Caption, but instead of being like him he actually got to meet him. Randy said "It's cool to meet your boyhood idols, it's even cooler to see him come to you." Randy won many stuffed animals throughout his time. The last childhood dream on the list was to become an imagineer. He was able to help create a virtual attraction ride named Aladdin for Walt Disney World. Through out this process he realized that brick walls are there for a reason. Randy learned several things from Jon Snoody, who later inspired him for other reasons.
The next main point in the video was helping others enable their childhood dream. Randy was able to help others because he used his profession as a professor to help. The first person Randy helped was a guy named Tommy in 1993. Tommy wanted to help write the next Star Wars movies and believe it or not he ended up accomplishing his dream with the help of Randy. Randy wanted to help more than just one person at a time so he created a course at Carnegie Mellon called building virtual worlds. The class was made up of 50 students and each project lasted for two weeks. The class was a big success. But this wasn't good enough for Randy he wanted something bigger, so he created this program called Alice, which is a novel way to teach computer programming. Where kids make video's and games; the "head fake" is that they are learning to program. Alice is a very successful program. There are over one million downloads, eight textbooks, and 10% of the U.S. colleges are using it right now. So millions of kids are having fun while learning something hard.
The last point made in the video lessons learned. What lets you get to achieve your dreams? The role of parents, mentors, and students are very important in lessons learned. Andy Von Dam is the person who influenced Randy to get his PH.D and become a professor. Loyalty is a two-way street because believing in someone is the most powerful thing that can really make a difference in someones life. Also never give up on any dreams or goals. Randy mentions how to get people to help. First you can't get there alone, tell the truth, be earnest, apologize when you screw up, and focus on other people rather than on yourself. He also said that "Brick walls let us show our dedication, they separate those who don't really want to accomplish their childhood dreams." To get where you are going its good to not complain, instead work harder, find the best in everybody, know matter how you have to wait for them to show it. The important thing to remember about this lecture is how you lead your life.
In conclusion, Randy Pausch was a very successful man and had many people behind him to support anything he did. The important thing to remember is to never give up. Have faith in yourself and always believe. Randy Pausch has really inspired me in many different ways. He will always be remembered.