Randy Pausch
Pausch delivered his "Last Lecture", titled "Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams", at CMU on September 18, 2007. He gave an abridged version of his speech on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" in October 2007. The talk was modeled after an ongoing series of lectures where top academics are asked to think deeply about what matters to them, and then give a hypothetical "final talk", with a topic such as "what wisdom would you try to impart to the world if you knew it was your last chance?" Before speaking, Pausch received a long standing ovation from a large crowd of over 400 colleagues and students. When he motioned them to sit down, saying, "Make me earn it", someone in the audience shouted back, "You did!"
Afterschool Caucuses
The Caucuses were formed in response to the finding that 14.3 million children go home alone after the school day ends, including more than 40,000 kindergartners and almost four million middle school students in grades six to eight. The Caucuses act to promote the availability of afterschool programs, with a special emphasis on the 21st Century Community Learning Center (CCLC) program, for every American school-age child by increasing public awareness of such programs and supporting increased federal resources. In each chamber, the Caucuses have conducted a variety of activities supporting the goal of quality, affordable programs for all children. This has included organizing congressional briefings on specific topics such as the role of the STEM fields in afterschool (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) education; disseminating letters in support of increased resources for afterschool to the President as well as congressional colleagues; sharing new research on effective programs; and organizing press events around the Afterschool Challenge with celebrity supporters.