Browns RB Pierre Strong Jr. smiled as he walked up to greet an excited group of elementary students at Stephanie Tubbs Jones School.

Strong briefly shared his story with the students and congratulated them on their school attendance during the first part of the semester. Students also asked him questions ranging from what his pregame meal consists of to his role models in life. Then, Strong presented the Cleveland Metropolitan School District with a check for $2,500 on behalf of the Stay in the Game! Attendance Network and Meijer, to help support the district's attendance efforts.

Following the assembly, a select group of students participated in a variety of flag football drills with Strong, including running routes, practicing pulling flags and throwing a football at various targets.

"It's everything," Strong said on the importance of being at the Gym Class Takeover. "Me growing up, I didn't really have any athletes or professionals come talk to us. I come from a small city, so for me just to give back and help the kids and give them as much knowledge as possible, it's always going to be big for me."

The Cleveland Browns Foundation is a proud founder of the Stay in the Game! Attendance Network, which partners with school districts to create localized, data-informed attendance campaigns in support of strong student attendance.

Students who are not chronically absent from school are nine times more likely to graduate from high school on time. Stay in the Game! aims to have over 90 percent of Ohio students attending school over 90 percent of the time.

In addition to their efforts to increase school attendance, the Browns Flag In-Schools program is active in 165 elementary schools across Northeast and Central Ohio. The program is dedicated to developing a turn-key flag football implementation model for elementary physical education teachers and their classes, aiming to prioritize flag football as an in-school physical activity to build and maintain a foundation of healthy, lifelong physical activity among students.

The Browns are committed to advancing the game of youth and high school football throughout Northeast Ohio with year-round programming for players, coaches, officials and parents. Through camps, clinics and other in-school initiatives, the Browns' goal is to promote the healthy, social, emotional, intellectual and physical development of youth by enhancing opportunities for youth football participation and education opportunities.

Gym Class Takeovers, presented by Meijer, are a key way the Browns are able to engage with students and encourage both school attendance and physical activity. Volunteers from local Meijer stores help run the activity stations at each Gym Class Takeover.

"One of the best parts of working at Meijer is our work in the community, and that wouldn't happen without the support of the Cleveland Browns," assistant store director at Meijer Kyle Collins said.

The Browns held their second Gym Class Takeover on Oct. 15 and will host two more over the course of the fall semester. Students were selected for good attendance at school and impressed Strong Jr. with their energy.

"At first I was a little nervous, I'm not going to lie," Strong said. "But as we got going, I met the kids, got to know them and I got really comfortable. There's some fast kids here today, they're going to be some athletes."