Neil Degrasse Tyson Speech Outline

1412 Words3 Pages

Niral Shah
9/30/15

Famous Person Formal Outline
“Things You Should Know Going Forward in Life”

Introduction:
Today, I will be discussing the commencement speech, “Things You Should Know Going Forward in Life,” delivered by Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson at the University of Massachusetts in May 2015.
Firstly, I will provide a brief biography of Dr. Tyson mentioning his family, education, career and personal aspirations.
Secondly, I will summarize his speech and delve into the points he emphasized on, as well as mention which part of the speech I felt was most powerful.
And lastly, I will discuss why I chose this particular speech and the significance of his message pertaining to young adults today.

I. Biography
II. REAL WORLD – INSIGNIFICANT …show more content…

Within this biography, I have included Dr. Tyson’s early life, education and some of his personal interests that have helped him get to where he is today.

A. Family-Secondary Education-personal interest growing up
1. The world-renowned astrophysicist, cosmologist, author and science communicator, Neil deGrasse Tyson was born and raised in the Bronx, here in NY.
He graduated from the Bronx High School of Science in 1976 where he was the captain of the wrestling team and editor-in-chief of the “Physical Science Journal”.

2. When he was nine years old, Dr. Tyson’s parents took him to the Hayden Planetarium, which is a day he will cherish for the rest of his life, as it was the very first experience that sparked his unfathomable interest in astronomy.

3. He started attending astronomy courses offered by the Planetarium where he had the pleasure to learn from Dr. Mark Chartrand III, the director of the planetarium at the time.
Dr. Tyson states, “ he was his first intellectual role model” labeling his time there with Dr. Chartrand III, “the most formative period” of his life.
Tyson was inspired by his ability to combine his enthusiastic and charismatic teaching style with humor, motivating Tyson to “communicate the universe to others the way he …show more content…

“Your grades, whatever is your GPA, rapidly become irrelevant in your life.” As we all know, grades should not be disregarded, especially if you are looking to apply to any type of graduate school or want to further your education. However, I believe Dr. Tyson was trying to tell us that life is about what you do today and what you WILL do in the future so you can save yourself a lot of time and avoid a great deal of stress, if you don’t get caught up on what has happened in the past. There are countless successful and inspirational individuals who did not earn the best grades and were in fact “terrible students.” Once you step into the real world, questions like are you a hard worker, are you a problem solver, are you committed, are you focused, hold more weight than questions regarding your GPA. If exams like the SAT meant anything, it was a reflection of who you were at that specific moment, not who you can be or who you want to be. Thus, they “do not define you for the rest of your

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