Transcript The Last Lecture - LaGuardia ePortfolio

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by Maria Trujillo
In 2006 Randy Pausch, a professor of
Computer Science, Human Computer
Interaction and Design at Carnegie Mellon
University was diagnosed with pancreatic
cancer. Doctors told him he only had six
months left to live. He was married and had
three little children: Dylan, Logan and
Chloe. Some time later the same year he
was asked to give the traditional Last
Lecture speech at Carnegie Hall University.
His speech was funny and
interesting at the same
time. It talked about
childhood dreams and
how to overcome the
brick walls that time to
time are in front of us.
It is incredible that Prof.
Pausch was able to
achieve all his
childhood dreams. It
seems that only takes
perseverance and
willingness to do it.
His mentors
 His mom
 His dad
 Coach Jim Graham
 Andy van Dam “Dutch
uncle”
Advice in how to manage time
 Time must be explicitly
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managed like money.
You can always change your
plan but only if you have
one.
Ask yourself: Are you
spending your time on the
right things?
Develop a good filing
system.
Rethink the telephone.
Delegate.
Take time out.
Important Advise
 Be good at something: it makes you
valuable.
 Work hard… “What’s your secret?”
 Find the best in everybody; no matter how
much you have to wait for them to show it.
 Be prepared: “luck” is where preparation
meets opportunity.
Professor Randy Pausch died in July 25, 2008 leaving
all the people who have read his book and specially
his family a lesson for life. I can say that reading this
book helped me become a better person and I
learned to believe in dreams. The part of the book
that I recalled the most is:
“The brick walls are there for a reason. The brick walls
are not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there
to give us a chance to show how badly we want
something. Because the brick walls are there to stop
the people who don’t want it badly enough. They’re
there to stop the other people.”
He will always be remembered
as a exceptional human
being who loved to teach
and gave the best of himself
to his students.
Even though his children are
too small to remember him,
this book and the other
remembrances that I am
sure Prof. Pausch left them
will help them to know the
kind of person their father
was and how much he loved
them.