Motivational Program
Failure “IS NOT” an Option
Steps Leading to Success
(Overcoming Fear, Frustration, and Failure)
Presenter:
(Complimentary Presentation)*
NASA Engineer Jerry Woodfill
Former Apollo 11 and 13 Warning System Engineer
Synopsis:
Mr. Woodfill presents a compelling auto-biographical program. Using personal accounts of fear, frustration, and failure leading to success, the 45 minute talk combines multimedia clips, live music, historic recreated speeches and humor. These provide entertainment, motivation and instruction. The diversity of the presentation is designed for encouragement. Special emphasis is on the speaker’s NASA experience as the Apollo Warning System Engineer for the Moon landing and the rescue of Apollo 13. Each mission is compared to the student’s goals. Mr. Woodfill’s reenactment of President John Kennedy’s Rice Stadium speech serves as a motivational element in the program likening it to the goal of graduating with a degree. (Example: “We do this thing not because it is easy, but because it is hard…to bring forth the best of our energies and skills.”) Regardless of students’ perceived failures and seemingly limited potential, Mr. Woodfill demonstrates the ultimate good coming from perseverance. It is shown how: 1) Initial failure can actually be a catalyst for success. 2) All students have unique talents that set them apart as “gifted”. 3) Often, what appears as a “set-back” leads to special abilities that might never have been discovered but for an unfortunate circumstance.
Audience
Newly enrolled students as well as instructors as a resource lesson during the course or workshop/convention motivational presentation
Goal As a live “been-there-experienced-that” type presentation empathetic to past student disappointments aimed to instill perseverance in pursuit of academic goals (appropriate for first year orientation)
Learning Outcomes
The student will be able to understand how failure is often a key component to success. By considering past failures, the student can speculate how these may lead to ultimate academic success.
Learning Methods
The speaker’s hour program provides “real-life” case studies (his own experiences) and demonstrations encouraging ultimate student success. Sermonizing is avoided rather the lesson of personal experience is the teaching tool. While a “picture is worth a thousand words of description,” likewise is “personal experience more valuable than a thousand sermons.”
Specific Objectives
Upon completion of the program, participants will be able to:
•Understand the purpose and benefits of overcoming frustration and discouragement
•Understand how to identify positive outcomes resulting from initial failure
•Understand how to cope with setbacks based on the speaker’s experience
•Understand how each student can perform an assessment of good coming from perceived failure, (a class exercise and discussion led by the instructor)
Key Topics
●The one hour “live” presentation
●The individual success from failure assessment of the speaker’s experience
●The individual success from failure assessment of the student’s past experiences
●The individual success from failure potential assessment of the student’s current challenges which, potentially, will lead to ultimate success
Background
For 46+ years, Jerry Woodfill has been employed by NASA in Houston. He holds BAEE and BSEE degrees from Rice University which he attended on a basketball scholarship.
At the onset of the lunar landing program, he managed the spacecraft warning systems so that he was monitoring spacecraft Eagle's descent when Neil Armstrong landed on the Moon. Likewise, on April 13, 1970, Jerry was monitoring Apollo 13's warning system when the vehicle exploded. His system was the first alert of the life-threatening malfunction depicted in the Tom Hanks-Ron Howard movie APOLLO 13. Universal Studios designated Jerry as a national spokesman to the media for the release of the film Apollo 13, The IMAX Experience. This has led to Jerry sharing a multi-media program entitled: THIRTEEN THINGS THAT SAVED APOLLO 13. For his role in the rescue of Apollo 13, he shared the Presidential Medal of Freedom as a member of the Apollo 13 Mission Operations Team. Presently, Jerry is the Technical Managers’ Representative for NASA JSC’s Software, Robotics and Simulation Division. A popular educational speaker, he presents a recreation of President John Kennedy’s Rice Stadium Moon Race talk. Present as a student, Jerry was inspired by JFK’s message to the extent that it led to Jerry’s present NASA career of 46+ years.
Past Presentations
*Summer Liftoff to Learning Workshops
- NASA Texas Space Grant Consortium Educators (ten years)
*NASA Explorer School educators and scholars (twice)
*NASA High School Aerospace Scholars (five years)
*Community College Aerospace Scholars
*Texas Workforce Commission Summer Student Space Exploration Program
*Keynoter at STEM, Educational and Industrial Conferences
*Featured Speaker 37th Annual American Mathematics Association of Two Year Colleges (AMATYC) National Convention
*Keynote: Phi Theta Kappa 2012 Texas Convention, Amarillo, Texas
Jerry Woodfill’s station monitoring
Apollo 11 and Apollo 13
at the Manned Spacecraft Center,
July 1969 and April 1970
281-483-6331 (O)
281-474-2974 (H)
(Complimentary Program)*
Email:
*No compensation for travel expenses requested within 75 miles of the Johnson Space Center. Travel expenses only requested for distances exceeding 75 miles.