Blog Post #10: Randy Pausch

Randy Pausch was a faculty member, researcher and mentor at Carnegie Mellon. He was involved in a number of university departments and initiatives including: School of Computer Science, Human-Computer Interaction Institute, Entertainment Technology Center, and Alice. Pausch gave a very famous lecture in 2008 that soon became an internet sensation, called "Last Lecture." Pausch died a few months later due to health complications. His lecture objectives were, his childhood dreams, enabling dreams of others, and lessons learned: how to achieve dreams and the dreams of others. All throughout Pausch's lecture, he would wear something different, like put a jacket on or wear a silly hat to keep the audience's attention. Frequently, Pausch would tell a humorous story or unintended joke to also grasp the attention of the audience. One quote Pausch said that stood out to me the most was, "we learn from our students, not just the teacher." I completely agree with his quote! A classroom is not just for learning math or reading, but a classroom is also a place where a group of students and teachers get together and learn from each other. Over time, a teacher and his/her class become a team or a family. Everyone works together, and even though everyday is not rainbows and sunshine, we can learn that if "family" sticks together, there will be sunshine at the end of the storm.