Associate Professor of Mass Media Joe Watson gave his Last Lecture Wednesday night in Rice Auditorium, teaching students about the importance of “F Words.” While this was not Joe Watson’s literal last lecture, he shared how these “F Words” were important in his life and could have impact on all students as part of Baker’s Last Lecture series.

“Whatever it is, identify your focus and work to make opportunities happen for yourself,” Watson said. “What can you do right now, that will lay the foundation for you to leave Baker and succeed the way you want to succeed?”

The Last Lecture series at Baker allows professors the opportunity to answer the question: If this were the last lecture you could ever give, what knowledge would you share?

Following a long career in broadcast news, two Emmy awards and four years of work in public relations, Watson earned a doctoral degree and found that his passion was teaching.

As Watson told his life story, he incorporated three words that he felt were most important, all starting with the letter F. The words were focus, fear and family. Watson not only shared how those words were important in his life, but how they can apply to current students at Baker.

“I really focused on the word ‘focus’ because it’s something that I think makes a lot of sense with people that are our age,” senior mass media major Jim Joyner said. “There is that need to go get an internship early, and there is a need to be the best at what you’re doing early.”

Watson’s message about his career reached much farther than just mass media majors.

“I have only met Dr. Watson a handful of times, but I knew a little bit about what he had accomplished in his career,” senior sports administration major Justin Madsen said. “As he dove deeper into the stories, I really started to connect his story to things I aspire to accomplish, even though my goal is to go down a much different career path.”

Watson appealed to the fear of both Joyner and Madsen when identifying that at the same time they will graduate, tens of thousands of other students across the United States will be graduating as well.

“It was great to hear him say that it is OK to be afraid, and that in the darkness of being afraid, you can make some of your best decisions and really find your path,” Madsen said.

What Watson described as a “daunting task,” to condense his life story into one lecture about what he truly wanted to share with the audience, concluded with applause throughout Rice Auditorium, leaving the door open for the next installment in the series of Baker’s Last Lectures.