Deputy Secretary's Speech

Deputy Commerce Secretary David A. Sampson
Seneca Middle School Career Fair
Seneca, South Carolina

Good morning boys and girls.

I'm glad that Congressman Barrett invited me to spend the day in South Carolina, and it is a true pleasure to be here.

I am anxious to get to your questions, but first let me explain why I am here today, and why I am so excited to get to speak to you.

Let me ask you a question. How many of you know what you want to be when you finish school? Raise your hands.

A teacher?

Doctor or nurse?

Scientist?

Deciding what you want to do is a really tough question. I have two 13-year-old sons and they seem to have a new idea every time I talk to them about what they want to do.

Let me tell you about the Department of Commerce where I work, and what we do.

We forecast the weather. We fly airplanes into hurricanes to study them and determine their strength.

We also help the environment by protecting fish and other ocean animals, and by studying their habitats. We even have a giant aquarium in our basement back in Washington, D.C.

Commerce maintains a nuclear reactor and an atomic clock that is the most accurate clock in the world. This helps scientists study the stars and mariners steer their ships across the oceans.

Your school is part of our NOAA radio network, which will alert you when there is severe weather in the area. Living in South Carolina, you know how bad the weather can sometimes get. Now that you have this new radio, you will know early when a severe thunderstorm or tornado is in your area.

The key component to all of this cool stuff that we manage is innovation. Innovation is a new or better way of doing things, and America is the most innovative country in the world. It's our innovative spirit that has driven our economy for the past century, and we are always looking for ways to do things better, faster, and more efficiently.

Let's look at the iPod. When the iPod was first introduced, there was nothing like it. But Apple wasn't satisfied and has since come out with smaller iPods, iPods with more memory--they keep recreating it to make it better.

The key to unlocking the next generation of innovation and technology is right here at your school. The math and science classes you are taking right now will prepare you in ways you cannot imagine for your careers, and I want to stress how important they will be in the future.

Doing well in these core classes will prepare you for Advanced Placement courses in high school. AP courses will not only make it easier for you to get into college, but completing them will assist you in receiving scholarship or grant money. With two, 13-year-old sons, I can tell you first-hand the importance of college scholarships.

But the real reward comes after college when you will be able to put your knowledge to use. Engineers and scientists--specifically those at NIST, which is part of my Department--are already working on something called quantum computing.

Once decoded, quantum computing will create computers that will be able to process in seconds what today's supercomputers would take weeks or even years to accomplish.

For those of you concerned with the environment, you will be able to study alternative, cleaner fuels for our cars and homes. But to accomplish these amazing things, it is critical that you master the basic skills you are being taught now.

President Bush knows this is so important that he wants our public schools to hire tens of thousands more math and science teachers. And he wants to bring people who already work as scientists or inventors into your classrooms to share their knowledge and experience with you. This will help you to learn and to achieve your dreams.

You should know and be proud that American universities are the best in the world. Students come from around the world to attend our universities, and what you are learning now will give you an opportunity to attend those universities and be a part of the next generation of great innovators, and in turn keep building new rungs on top of the innovation ladder.

So as I tell my own children, study hard. And you need to be a life-long learner, as I'm sure you've heard your teachers say, because we live in an ever-changing world where the key to success is looking ahead and thinking of new ideas and new ways of doing things.

Thank you very much for having me here today, and I'm ready to take any questions that you have.