Rally promotes education I
■ School is Cool Jam
draws more than 13,000
students to UNL.
Lesley Owusu
Staff writer
Fun, action, music, motivation and
plenty of jamming took place on
Monday morning at the ninth annual
School is Cool Jam.
Regarded as the nation’s biggest
pep rally for education, mote than
13,000 students gathered at the Bob
Devaney Sports Center to listen to role
model Husker student athletes give
motivational speeches.
Keith Zimmer, coordinator of the
event, was pleased about its success.
“I was very impressed by the great
attendance, which illustrates the quality
of the program,” he said.
Young people are motivated
through inspirational messages,
Zimmer said.
“The main goal of the School is
Cool Jam is to motivate elementary and
middle level students toward academic
excellence and responsible decision
making,” Zimmer said.
Athletic Director Bill Bryne
opened the Jam with a important mes
sage on education.
“Education will help you stay on the
right path and pursue a successful
career,” he said.
Featured performers included Rope
Warrior David Fisher and LiT Red.
Fisher performed impressive tricks
with a rope similar to a jump rope.
The keynote speakers included
Soccer Coach John Walker and student
leader Eddie Brown.
Student athletes including All
American soccer player Sharolta
Nonen, former NU linebacker Brian
Shaw and current Husker quarterback
Eric Crouch also spoke at the event.
All speakers had a special message
to deliver.
Walker spoke to the youth about
dealing with adversity.
‘True champions are those who can
respond to disappointment,” Walker
said.
Eddie Brown encouraged all stu
dents to get involved.
“Be committed to student involve
Heather Glenboski/DN
FOURTH-GRADERS CHRIS Jones and
Scott Nelson, of Kenwood
Elementary School in Kearney, do
“The Wave” as part of the pre-event
at the 2000 School is Cool Jam on
Monday morning at the Bob Devaney
Sports Center. The event was held to
motivate elementary and middle
school students toward academic
excellence and responsible deci
sions.
ment as they provide plenty of opportu
nities,” Brown said.
Crouch focused on the importance
of building good character.
“We all have character, but develop
ing a good character is what defines a
person,” he said.
The 2000 Jam used educational
messages combined with enthusiasm
and entertainment to demonstrate how
important education is and that school
redly is cool, Zimmer said.
Heather Glenboski/DN
UNL GRADUATE AND FORMER Husker
linebacker Drlan Shaw speaks to
students about the importance of
grades and test taking as part of the
School is Cool Jam. Shaw was one
of many athletes who participated
in the event.
%
Ethnic labels often
cause confusion
LABELS from page 1
sociology and ethnic studies. “It was a
convenient way for them to clump
people of Spanish ancestry together.”
Cameya Ramirez, a senior crimi
nal justice major, said Hispanic is
used for political correctness.
“It’s pretty much a made-up
word,” she said. “There’s not really a
definition.”
< Marty Ramirez, a counselor for
the University Health Center
Counseling and Psychological
Services, said Chicano is usually used
for those who have Mexican parents
but were bom in the United States.
Cameya Ramirez said she consid
ers herself Chicano even though she is
not a first-generation Mexican
American.
“I consider myself Chicano, and
I’m third-generation,” she said. “So
it’s just a matter of preference, but
most people use Latino.”
In the early 1900s, the term
Chicano was associated with Mexican
Americans because it meant “low
class,” Marty Ramirez said.
The word was used in a more pos
itive fashion by activists in the
Chicano movement in the late 1960s
and 1970s, he said. Mexican
Americans used it to show they were
proud of who they were, he said.
“We’re proud to be Mexican, and
we’re equally proud to be American,”
he said. “In our heart and soul we’re
Chicano.”
The movement was mostly made
up of college students and older
Mexican Americans, he said.
It started because some Mexican
Americans wanted to choose their
identification, Marty Ramirez said.
“The heart of the Chicano move
ment is that you’re not going to label
us,” he said. “You’re not going to tell
us who we are.”
The word Chicano is not popular
with Mexican Americans, so usually
Latino is used, Marty Ramirez said.
“We thought that Mexican
Americans would incorporate the
word Chicano with open arms,” he
said. “But it failed.”
I n/m What’s
Happening?
Monday, April 10:
♦Avery Awards Display
Check out the Avery Award winners
located in Avery Hall
a
Tuesday, April 11:
♦Sho’Yo’ J-Pride: it’s Wear Your J-School T-shirt Day
Wear your way-cool, J-school styles!
Wednesday, April 12:
♦Sho’Yo’ J-Pride II: Wear Your J-School T-shirt Day
♦Meet and Eat: BW-3, 5:30pm
p»11pJ-students, J-professors, J-wings?
p ® Thursday, April 13:
Ol *NewsCapade opens (East Memorial Stadium)
o 1 i ctTl Take a look, you might learn somethin’—
J O U d h Journalism history & stuff (Open to All)
*A Slice of Professionalism with a Slice of Pizza
Union Centennial Ballroom, 1 lam-lpm
uyr _ Meet alumni, talk about the biz, eat free
lunch! (Journalism Students Only)
Communications
Friday, April 14:
♦Honors Convocation, Union Ballroom, 10am
Everyone’s invited, come brag &/or cheer
♦Freedom Forum Panel, Union Ballroom, 11:30am
1st Amendment Rights, hosted by Charles
Overby with A1 Neuharth, founder of USA
TODAY (Open to Everyone)
i Monday, Aprils
Opening Ceremony 11:30 a.m.
Nebraska Union
11 Tuesday, Aprfl 11
Rim Festival 6:30 p.m.
Culture Center
iiWodnosday, April 12
Children^ Carnival 6 p.m.
Nebraska Union
11 Thursday, April 13
Forum: Media, Mascots &
Multicutturalism
3:30 p.m., Nebraska Union
Talent Show/Dance Lessons
7 p.m. Culture Center
11 Friday, April 14
Recognition Banquet 6:30 p.m.
Nebraska Union
Keynote Speaker Dr. Omero
Suarez, Chancellor, Grossmont
Cuymaca Community College
Special Performance by
Grupo FoUdorico Sabor
Latino Dance Group
■ Saturday, April 15
Community Dance
8 p.m. -1 a.m.
1st Avenue Dance Hall
Featuring Los Marinos
Art and Graphic by Melanie Falk/DN
People did not like the image of
Chicanos, Marty Ramirez said.
“They saw the brown berets on the
television, and they said ‘Oh no, we
can’t have that,”’ he said. “They saw
us as being like the Black Panthers.”
Although the movement wasn’t
popular, it still exists, Marty Ramirez
said.
Carranza said that even though
Latino is the most inclusive term, peo
ple still have their own preferences.
“My generation would be known
as Chicano, my parents would have
been Mexican-American and my
grandparents were Mexicans,” he
said. “So I tell my students in my
classes that the best way to know
which term to use is to ask them.”
