About 40 high school juniors and seniors from Garfield Heights City Schools spent the day at CrossCrountry Mortgage Campus to participate in the Cleveland Huddle Pathway hosted by the Browns.
This was the second consecutive year the Browns held Cleveland Huddle Pathway as part of their Black History Month programming. The event serves an opportunity to inspire future changemakers on a wide array of careers available in the sports industry outside of being a professional athlete and current challenges in the industry. By providing a pathway to create an interest in a specific career path, it can serve as a motivator for high school students and encourage them to attend school regularly.
In conjunction with the Stay in the Game! Attendance Network, the students from Garfield Heights City Schools were selected to attend the event as a reward for being leaders in their schools and showing a commitment to improved and good school attendance. The Stay in the Game! Attendance Network is a statewide movement and learning network designed to dramatically improve attendance for Ohio students. The Network currently partners with 161 Ohio school districts to positively impact 494,971 students through attendance support and interventions.
"It's a huge opportunity for students to see what life after high school could possibly look like and the opportunities that they could get involved in," Dean of Culture at Garfield Heights City Schools Kenny Gamble said. "What was extremely powerful for me as a high school administrator, to see our students see a panel of Black and African Americans that look just like them because our school is 90 percent African American. So, to see them in professional spaces, and that connection of that could be me."
Following a tour of CrossCountry Mortgage Campus in which they heard from Head Strength and Conditioning Coach Larry Jackson and Director of Dining Services LaVelle Cisco, they wrapped up the day with a panel, moderated by News 5 Cleveland sports reporter Camryn Justice. The panel included Browns staff members across different areas of the organization, including Elisha Guidry (Scouting Assistant, Player Personnel), Lydia Jules (Coordinator, Legal), Jasha Keller (Coordinator, Fan Experience & Special Events), Brandon Moore (Coordinator, Youth Football) and Justin Peck (Account Executive, Ticket Sales & Service Membership).
Executive Vice President of Football Operations and General Manager Andrew Berry opened the panel discussion, welcoming the students to CrossCountry Mortgage Campus and shared a piece of his journey throughout his career. He also added some piece of advice to the students.
"So, number one, it goes back to what I said, at your ages, find something that you love and just get really good at it. Study what you love. What you do is less important than how you do it," Berry said. "Number two, I'd say, take risks. Like get comfortable with risk-taking – both in your lives and careers – and realize that not every risk is going to work out. But don't be afraid to take risk. The third piece of it is, get comfortable with being uncomfortable. Because you are going to have a number of uncomfortable situations in your lives and in your careers, but those are the things that help you grow.
"And then the last thing I would say is, keep your failures really close to your successes," Berry continued. "Success at times can make us arrogant or maybe too prideful, but failures keep us humble. And you got to know, it is just like the weather, there are going to be sunny days, and there are going to be rainy days, and there are going to be snowy days. But that humility that you have with your failures, that is what makes you teachable and that is what allows you to grow."
Students also asked questions to the individuals on the panel and were able to gain insight about each individual's journey through high school and college, while voicing the importance of education. In addition, students learned how each job function within the organization coexists to how important relationships are in the business of sport.
"I loved their stories and how relatable they are to our generation, and to some of the students that were in this room today," Garfield Heights senior Travis Page-Harris said. "I'm always open to learning new things. I love having an open mindset. I really took a lot from today, and I'm gonna use that in my life and hopefully apply it to a lot more people that I meet."
The "Cleveland Huddle Pathway" is one of the different avenues that is a part of the Browns' Cleveland Huddle campaign. In its fifth year of programming, the Cleveland Huddle campaign seamlessly integrates into the team's #BeTheSolution platform as part of Browns Give Back, accompanied by programming aimed to foster unity and support within Northeast Ohio.
The Browns continued their efforts to champion Black-owned restaurants, closing the day by providing lunch from Sweet Pork Wilsons, a Cleveland Huddle restaurant. The Cleveland Huddle program gives Browns fans, staff, coaches and players a chance to further support the restaurants the team highlights during the month. Since the program's inception, they have helped make a positive impact for 15 different businesses in Cleveland.
