Editor’s Note: In conjunction with Black History Month, the Daily will be profiling five outstanding black students this week.

“Excellence and achievement through consistency” is Jerlando Jackson’s motto.

“That has been what has allowed me to do some of the things that I’ve done,” he said.

Jackson, 25, is a graduate student in educational leadership and policy studies from Columbus, Georgia. He received a bachelor’s degree in music studies from the University of Southern Mississippi and a master’s degree from Auburn University in Alabama.

After he receives his doctorate, he plans to look for an administration and faculty position.

Last year, he was the adviser of Iowa State’s chapter of the National Pan-Hellenic Council, which is the governing body of historically black fraternities and sororities, as well as president of the Black Graduate Student Association.

Though he has been successful, Jackson said he is not sure if he considers himself a role model.

“I can’t necessarily speak to say that I am a role model,” he said. “But I try to do positive things that I will hope will be incentives for others.”

He does have his own list of people at Iowa State who have impacted his life.

“[Dean of the Graduate College] Dr. George A. Jackson,” he said. “was very instrumental in recruiting and getting me here in the first place.”

“Dr. Larry H. Evers has been giving me career guidance,” he said. “Dr. Herman J. Blake and his wife, Dr. Emily Moore, have been very instrumental in showing me some of the ways to negotiate the academic system.

“And I think Dr. Derrick Rollins … his whole life has been sort of a symbol for how to be a man,” Jackson said. “He, for me, has embodied what one should strive to be, and I think that he excels at all arenas.”

He also named his parents, Jerry and Dorothy Jackson, as major influences.

“I’d probably say the single most important thing [that affected me growing up] would be the nurturing from my parents,” he said. “[They would] always be supportive of anything I’d do or try to do.”

Jackson said he thinks it is extremely important to be active in the black community.

“Certainly it’s always good to have something that’s your own to be a part of,” he said. “If you don’t have something like a Black History Month or a Black Graduate Student Association sometimes you can … be ignorant to some of the things that got you to the point of where you are today.

“It can be possible to forget that many people died, many people fought and many people gave their lives and blood and their opportunities so you could have one today,” he said.

Jackson said Black History Month has a special meaning for him.

“The first and foremost thing that it represents is a time where individuals actually take the time to remember the people who helped build this country,” he said.

Jackson said those people, in many aspects, “are forgot any other time of the year.”

However, for Jackson, black history should not be acknowledged just one month out of the year.

“We begin to think … that since we do celebrate Black History Month, and we take the time to focus on what blacks or African-Americans have done in America in this time that we don’t need to take the time to do that any other time of the year.

“I think it handicaps us to think that we can only look at what blacks have done for America in February,” he said.

Although Jackson considers Iowa “a safe environment,” he does wish the Ames community was more diverse.

“It would definitely help attract more people of color to Iowa if there were higher numbers of people of color already here” he said. “Because I think then what would happen is the environment, and culture would be more conducive and inclusive of our needs here.

“Presently, there’s certain things you can’t receive here: You don’t have an African-American or urban radio station, you can’t get Black Entertainment Television,” he said.

Jackson said his advice to students just coming to ISU would be “Remember why you came to college.”

“Understand that it’s these four to five, six years of your life that will dictate what the next 40 to 45 years of the rest of your life is about,” he said.

He also had special advice for black students.

“Remember when you get tired, remember when things get hard, the hundreds and thousands of people who died and fought for you to have this opportunity,” he said. “It’s your time to continue the legacy.”