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REMARKS BY:	DONNA E. SHALALA, SECRETARY OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
PLACE:		University of Wisconsin Student Athlete Academic Banquet, Madison, Wisconsin
DATE:		March 29, 1999

It's an honor and a pleasure to be here this evening among so many scholars and athletes, coaches and faculty and parents and supporters. As some of you know, I'm the only member of any President's Cabinet to have a Badger football, hockey stick and rowing picture on permanent display in their office. I think of it as a sort of shrine - not only to my favorite team but to all the good times I've had here and great friends I've made here.

I've come up with five ways to tell if you're a true Badger. Let me share them with you.

Number one: You know that the single most essential item in your wardrobe is a cheese head. Number two: You define summer as three months of bad ice fishing.

Number three: You know that the real "Breakfast of Champions" is bratwurst.

Number four: You thought everyone had a milk mustache.

Number five: You know that everything you really needed to know in life you learned from your sport.

And that's part of why we're here. What you've learned from athletics is invaluable. And tonight we're celebrating some of the lessons you've learned. Even more, what we're celebrating is talent. Talent that's been proven both on the playing field and in the classroom.

It's something we see in your performance as both athletes and as students. Sure, we're awed by your gravity defying stunts, by your lightning quick reflexes. And, we're amazed not only by your ability to do what seems impossible, but the fact that you do it with such grace. But the reason why we're here tonight is that we also understand there's a benefit to athletics that goes beyond impressing all of us back in the cheering section.

As a former Chancellor of this University, and as the Secretary of Health and Human Services, I understand the benefit of athletics. I know that physical activity not only makes us feel good but reduces the risk of afflictions from heart disease to diabetes.

It reduces stress. It can help cure depression. It improves body image and self-confidence.

But, more than any of that sports can help make us winners in life. But don't take my word for it. Just ask Don Davey and Suzy Favor-Hamilton. As most everyone here knows, Don plays football in the NFL and Suzy competes in track events around the world.

But what some of you might not be aware of is that they weren't only champions on the field but champions in the classroom. Their success reminds us how sports can help provide us with the skills we need for success.

What was it that enabled the Badgers to win the Rose Bowl on New Year's Day? Or helped our Women's Volleyball team to place in the National Finals? It was character: what athletes understand in a way others don't.

Character is what it takes to ride a bus to the University of Illinois and back and still finish a term paper for the next morning. Character is what Coach Barry Alvarez [football] and Coach Jane Albright-Dieterle [women's basketball] see in you when you keep your head up after a failed pass or a blocked shot. Character is what made you champions on the playing field and in the classroom. And, above all, character is what it takes to be a champion in life.

Because character is more than just about winning -- it's about getting into the game. It's about hard work. It's about doing your best. It's about learning.

And - to paraphrase one of our physics professors, Dr. Bernice (Bernace) Durand - it's about transforming energy from the potential into the kinetic.

With patience, support and lots of discipline, you've turned a dream into reality. Your success at breathing life into a dream gives you the force to overcome future challenges. And enables you to achieve great heights.

One of the great achievements we're celebrating tonight is balance. This is no small achievement. For the rest of your life you will rely on this skill of balance. I don't mean the kind of balance it takes to perform an aerial on a balance beam. No, I mean the kind of balance it takes to lead healthy lives as the parents, professionals and good citizens you will be tomorrow.

The University of Wisconsin recently celebrated its 150th anniversary. Though we've come a long way in 150 years, some things have not changed. The goal remains the same: to strengthen our human resources.

This strength is in the "Wisconsin Idea" - a common sense idea articulated on this very campus. It's the simple notion that sharing benefits everyone. Sharing the wealth of your achievement and your sense of balance is another way to honor this tradition.

But I haven't only come to praise you tonight - I've also come to challenge you. You know that sports help young people make good choices. Sports give young people confidence and the strength and character to say "no" to risky behavior. But it's up to you to teach this critical lesson to the next generation.

By sharing your experience you help to teach a young boy in Kenosha the skills to say "no" that first time he's offered a cigarette. And by helping to turn a young girl in Chicago on to sports you may be giving her the self-esteem she isn't finding sitting on the couch watching TV. What better way to contribute to the "Wisconsin Idea" than to make sure that a young person right here in Madison can look to you for guidance and support?

What are we aiming for? Giving young people something to say "YES" to: "yes" to physical fitness, education, and setting goals for themselves.

Because, remember: the rule of balance is the same in whatever it is you do. The energy you exert is exactly what you get in return. This balance of energy is central in physics and in life. You are proving this rule tonight: we're watching your hard work and dedication to both your sports and schoolwork become matched with achievement and success.

Let the award you take home tonight be a reminder of the balance you've found so far. And let it continue to guide you in your daily life.

Whether it be in the Lake Shore dorms next week or twenty years from now when you're getting ready to send your own young Badger to Madison -- let tonight be that little taste of victory that helps carry you to an undefeated season . and to a lifetime of success.

Thank you.