SPORTS
Huskers on a hot
streak
Nebraska's baseball team,
winners of five-straight,
will try to keep their string
alive tonight at Kansas
State.
Page 5
Tuesday
45/34
Today, breezy
with a chance of
showers.
April 12, 1994
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Vol. 93 No. 13S
Jam motivates youth
to think about future
By Matthew Waite
Senior Reporter
When 12-ycar-old Tawnya
Freeborn came to the Bob
Dcvancy Sports Center
Monday morning, she wasn’t think
ing about her future.
But when Tawnya left, she had set
a goal for herself: she was going to
college.
More than 6,000 elementary and
junior high school students like
Tawnya gathered at the Devancy Cen
ter for the Best of America “School is
Cool” Jam. Nebraska football coach
Tom Osborne, Butkus Award winner
Trev Alberts and USA TODAY First
Team Academic All-Star Jill Ander
son spoke to the students about slay
ing in school.
At a media breakfast earlier Mon
day, Gov. Ben Nelson read a procla
mation naming April 11 as School is
Cool Day.
“It’s important to help individuals
understand that school is cool,” he
said. “We all have a stake in doing
this.”
Former UNL football player and
Kansas City Chiefs Rookie of the Year
Will Shields and his “Will to Suc
ceed” program helped sponsor the
event.
Shields told the students at the Jam
that if they wanted to become a profes
sional athlete, they needed to start
now while they were young.
“It starts when you arc little, and it
(goes on) until you are grown up," he
said.
Shields stressed the importance of
education, telling the students that
professional sports wouldn’t last him
forever. He said could get injured and
not be able to play sports.
“An educated athlete has more
power than anything else,” Shields
-44
It’s important to help
individuals
understand that
school is cool.
— Gov. Ben Nelson
-tf -
said.
The Jam also was sponsored i n part
by the UNL Athletic Department, the
Golden Key Honor Society and the
Lincoln Public Schools Department
of Special Education.
Tawnya, a sixth grader from
Wymorc.said the Jam would keep her
in school, so she could study to be
come a teacher or a nurse. She said
after she had listened to the speakers
talk about goals, she was going to set
her goals soon.
Russell Davis, a fifth grader from
Tccumseh, said he didn’t know what
he wanted to be, bu t h is fa vori te classes
were math, science and computers.
The Jam was inspiring, Russell
said. He said he was going to set goals
for the future.
“One of my goals will be to get an
education,” Russell said.
The Jam featured UNL football
pi ayers Corey D ixon and Jacques A lien
singing and rapping to the students to
stay in school and get an education. A
slam-dunk show with Nebraska bas
ketball and football players and an
exhibition from the UNL gymnastics
team also were part of the schedule.
Osborne said sports and school
were not that different.
“You can ’ l be a great footbal 1 player
ifyoucan't block and tacklc,”Osbornc
said. “Nobody can do well ... if they
can’t read.”
See JAM on 3
UNK computer option
draws mixed response
By Angie Brunkow
Sentor Reporter
Besides the beds, desks and
chairs found in most NU resi
dence hall rooms, some
Kearney students will find one addi
tional and unique feature next year—
computers.
Dean Brcsciani. director of resi
dence life at the University of Ne
braska at Kearney, said students liv
ing in the halls would have the option
to buy or lease Applc'or Digital com
puters.
Few other un i versi t ies, i n Nebraska
or nationwide, offer students this op
tion, he said.
“This is a fairly unique program,”
Brcsciani said.
Using the computer package, stu
dcntscan access the university’s main
frame and Internet, he said. The com
puters also will connect students to
olher studen ts,professors and t he UNK
libraries.
Students can buy either desktop or
laptop computers for about $2,400
and $2,900, respectively, Brcsciani
said. A three-year, six-semester pay
ment plan also is available, he said,
but will cost students an additional
several hundred dollars.
Doug Zatcchka, director of the
Housing Office at the University of
Ncbraska-Lincoln, said administra
tors at the Lincoln campus were not
considering offering UNL students a
similar option.
“I don’t think it’s a possibility in
the very near future,” he said.
Many UNL students bring their
own computers to school, Zatechka
said. Ifnol, they can use one of the 350
com putcrslocatcd throughoutthc resi
dence halls in labs, he said.
Brcsciani said students could put
together their own computer pack
ages, but the university program made
it cheaper and easier.
“Most students don’t have the so
phistication and access to put a pack
age together for that price,” he said.
The package comes with a computer,
modem, printer and Microsoft Works
software.
Lisa Hct/.el, hall director at
Morningsidc College in Sioux City,
Iowa, said many universities, includ
ing her own, were beginning to offer
this option to students.
Steve Leida, computer technician
at Morningsidc, said students paid
$ 100per semester for a Gateway 2000
computer. At the end of eight semes-'
ters. they own the computers.
“It’s a heck of a deal,” he said.
Morningsidc is able to offer comput
ers at such a low cost because of
outside donations, he said.
Other un iversil ics m ight have prob
lems offering students such a deal,
said Paul Hemphill, programmer ana
lyst in the department of residence life
at the University of Missouri-Colum
bia.
MU lacks the management and
money resources needed to implement
such a program, he said. The school
docs not have enough modem ports or
mainframe access.
“That is totally unfeasible,” he said.
“That would be a nightmare."
Jay Calderon/DN
Greg Desrosiers, a professor of sign language at UNL, communicates with his classes
using his hands. Born deaf, Desrosiers teaches American sign language to UNL
students.
Helping hands
Instructor signs students on to learning
By Kara G. Morrison
Senior Reporter
reg Dcsrosiers’ classmates
the first to be captivated by the
emotion and expression he used to
tell his stories.
As a high school teacher, those
skills helped Dcsrosiers’ deaf stu
dents learn history.
“They became fascinated by his
tory. seeing it through my hands,”
said Dcsrosiers, who was bom deaf.
As an American Sign Language
instructor at UNL, his students say
his teaching abilities have brought
a new dimension to ASL classes.
“Just watching him teaches you
things a hearing person wouldn’t
be able to teach ... it’s beautiful,”
said senior Kristi Wilkcn, a deaf
elementary education major.
Dcsrosiers came to the Univer
sity of Ncbraska-Lincoln in June
at the Saskatchewan
School for the Deaf were
looking for a new teaching chal
lenge. Previously, he had taught at
the Iowa School for the Deaf for 14
years.
He hadn ’ t pi anned to stay for the
regularschool year, Desrosicrssaid.
but his UNL students didn’t want
him to leave.
“The students gave me wonder
ful evaluations — they were really
glowing,” he said.
Brenda Schick, director of deaf
education at UNL, said she recruited
Dcsros iers because she bel ieved deaf
teachers were the most competent
to teach sign language at the uni
versity level.
Desrosicrs said he enjoyed uni
versity teaching because it lacked
the constant responsibility ofdisci
plining students that high school
teaching involved.
‘‘I enjoy teaching again,”
Desrosicrs said, ‘it’s fun and really
different.”
So arc his classes, his students1
said.
“He’s funny! He’s very, very
funny, and he always tells stories
and jokes,” Wilken said. “He
doesn’t intimidate you in any sort
of way. He’s really caring and easy
to talk to.”
Telling stories and jokes is a
method Desrosicrsuses i n h is teach
ing. As students begin reacting to a
joke or story, he said, other stu
dents become focused on under
standing what is being said.
Above all, though, Desrosiers
wants his students to leave his class
understanding more than the jokes.
“Naturally, I’m very selfish and
have high expectations of hearing
students,” Desrosiers said. “I want
them to understand deaf culture
and to be able to communicate w ith
high signing skills.”
Desrosiers admits.however, that
his teaching method can be intimi
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