Steve Jobs Remembered

By Stella Tran

Paris Hilton announced Wednesday via Twitter that Steve Jobs had passed away. What was more tragic: the fact that many learned it from celebrities such as Hilton, or that Steve Jobs himself had died? Was it a cruel joke?

For many, it is a tragic reality. Steve Jobs, the co-founder, the inventor, the innovator and the visionary died at age 56. "He is the Thomas Edison of our time," junior CJ Dorsey said, who found out through his housemates when he came back from class.

Dorsey, like many other Santa Clara students were learning about the news through Facebook, Twitter, classmates and friends.

Jobs is an icon in his own right for innovation and technology. Future tech greats will forever be compared to Jobs. After all, the descendants of the original Mac that he created became the iPods and iTunes, Nanos, Shuffles, Classics, iPhones, iPads and the Apple Store. His products are part of the cultural fabric—tools that made many lives easier and, some insist, sexier and more streamlined.

Junior Rebecca Murillo found out when a classmate read a report from CNN, but did not believe it until she read her busier-than-usual Twitter feed.

"Someone tweeted that such a reaction about a person's death could only happen for the President," Murillo said. "And I think it's a really interesting point."

"It is nice to see everybody so aware of how he affected our lives. Apple marketed their product to us specifically," Junior Brock Simon said. "We are the Apple generation and all we know is Apple."

For many people, Steve Jobs' Apple is the poster child for the college generation because it reflects their own passion and innovative thinking that he too approached his work.

Steve Jobs knew what people wanted before they understood it themselves, but his greatness goes beyond his products and the black turtleneck.

Like his devices, Steve Jobs was a medium that led his loyal consumers to other destinations—the ones of their own choosing. That's what made him different.

He may be gone, but the future he saw is still, quite literally, in the hands of those who use his products. He may be gone, but the spirit of innovation still lives on through his consumers.

Stella Tran is a junior at Santa Clara University. Ted Anthony from Associated Press contributed to this story.