Chicago Bear Roberto Garza Surprises Middle School South Students

Middle School South (MSS) students were pleasantly surprised to see special guest Roberto Garza, #63 Chicago Bears offensive linesman, walk through their gym doors on April 8 as part of a special assembly.

Seventh grader Nic Zanichelli won a drawing through Central DuPage Hospital (CDH) and CBS Radio, to win the chance to have a Chicago Bear personally visit and speak at the school.

“My grandfather entered me in the contest,” explained Nic.

Zanichelli’s name was chosen at random among hundreds that entered the contest online, according to Amy Jo Steinbruecker, senior media relations specialist at CDH.

Garza spoke to Nic’s seventh grade team exclusively for an hour in the East Gym at MSS about Play60, an NFL-sponsored program promoting children being active for 60 minutes a day to combat childhood obesity.

“Eating healthy and staying active everyday is important and what everyone in the NFL has to do to succeed,” said Garza.

After his talk he signed autographs for the group of seventh graders sporting Bears gear.

“They didn’t know Roberto was coming today,” said David Gardner, MSS principal, “They were told to wear Bears gear for something special.”

Garza took time out to play football with the seventh graders, throwing passes.

“That was pretty exciting," said Zanichelli after catching a pass thrown by Garza. “He (Garza) gave good advice during his talk.”

At 1 p.m. the entire student population at MSS filed into the main gym, taking their seats in the bleachers, waiting for the exciting announcement of their mystery guest.

Gardner announced Garza and was greeted with a deafening round of applause. He spoke again about the Play60 program and also talked about setting goals at a young age.

“I put my first football helmet on in seventh grade and I knew I wanted to play football, so I had a goal to play in those Friday night lights,” said Garza about wanting to play high school football in his hometown in Texas.

“In order to play I had to get good grades, attend practice, learn the plays, stay fit, and eat right.”

It’s the same formula Garza uses today to stay at the top of the pack as an offensive linesman among younger eager newcomers.

“My test is on Sundays and I have 60-80 plays I have to know,” said Garza. “My training doesn’t start in August or September, it starts right after the season has ended. I’m back in the gym, I’m learning plays and studying, and eating right.”

He explained his three goals for next season: “Beat Green Bay, win the division, and be Super Bowl champs.”

Gardner interjected and related Garza’s goals and diligence to the middle school students, “He didn’t start playing football in college, he started when he was your age and set goals to play in the NFL.”

Garza also talked about the three mottos he lives by: “Believe in yourself, never give up, and always fight for your dream.”

“If you set a goal to be a doctor, a professional athlete, a reporter, a lawyer, you can if you want. You can achieve any goal,” said Garza.

He answered questions from the crowd of students and teachers who asked about the player lockout.

“It’s tough right now because the players want to get back to work, but hopefully we’ll be in Halas Hall before we know it, “ said Garza.

A student asked if he liked anyone from Green Bay and Garza replied, “No.” The crowd laughed at his response.

Garza had the crowd the chanting Bears at one point and booing the Super Bowl XLV champion Green Bay Packer’s at another point.

“It was good, I never heard about Play60 before so it was interesting,” said Haley Wartalski, seven grader at MSS.

“He had a great message for the students, setting goals at a young age because it’s never too early to start,” said Matt Ulmer, P.E. and health teacher.

“He was outstanding and delivered a great message about leading healthy lives and setting goals at a young age. He related to the students very well,” said Gardner.