MIDDLEBURG HEIGHTS, Ohio — Big Creek Elementary School’s gymnasium sounded more like a stadium on Monday, November 3, as Cleveland Browns defensive end Jared Verse jogged in to cheers from students lining the bleachers, high-fiving his way down the front row. Verse was there for the Browns’ third Gym Class Takeover of the 2026 fall semester, presented by Meijer — a good-attendance celebration that ended with a $2,500 check for Berea City Schools.
The visit, reported by the Cleveland Browns on clevelandbrowns.com, was built around a simple idea educators across Ohio have pushed since the pandemic: children learn more when they are in school every day, and attendance worth celebrating gets repeated. Students chosen for their strong attendance stayed after the assembly to rotate through six non-contact football stations with Verse, including an agility ladder, a flag-wall relay race and tic-tac-toe played with flags, according to the Browns’ report. Verse helped students practice ball security and signed each participating student’s shirt before he left.
Between stations, Verse answered the questions elementary students actually ask. His favorite pre-game snack is Cheez-Its, according to clevelandbrowns.com, and his favorite part of school was recess. If he were not a football player, he would be a writer. “I remember when I was their age, it was one of the most memorable times of my life,” Verse told clevelandbrowns.com. “I wish that we had people that came to my school and did exactly what I was able to do today.”
“Wherever you are, you have to make an impact in the community,” Verse told clevelandbrowns.com. “Being in Cleveland, being back in Ohio, it’s one of the most important things. And being able to make that impact on the kids is very important.” After the assembly, Verse presented the $2,500 check on behalf of the Cleveland Browns Foundation and Meijer, to further support the district’s attendance efforts.
Big Creek assistant principal Samantha Turner, who introduced Verse, told clevelandbrowns.com the moment ranked among her favorites in the job. “Seeing their faces and how excited they were, and also how proud they were of the growth, attendance and the decrease in chronic absenteeism,” Turner told clevelandbrowns.com. “We are so proud of them, and it was cool to see that they were proud of themselves also.”
That pride rests on a measurable trend. Big Creek has recorded a seven percent decrease in chronic absenteeism since the 2023-24 school year, when the Berea City School District joined the Stay in the Game! Attendance Network, according to the Browns’ report. Chronic absenteeism — missing 10 percent or more of school hours for any reason — remains a stubborn Ohio challenge: the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce put the statewide rate at 23.7 percent for 2025-26, down from pandemic-era highs but still above pre-pandemic levels, according to reporting by The 74.
The network behind Monday’s celebration has been building since 2019, when the Cleveland Browns Foundation, the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce and Harvard’s Proving Ground launched Stay in the Game! to connect districts with proven attendance strategies. The network is now managed by Battelle and, according to the Browns, is active in 201 districts across Ohio, reaching about 611,000 students. Its premise is that small, consistent nudges — pledges, monthly challenges, prizes and recognition — move attendance more reliably than punishment.
Big Creek’s version of that work runs all year. “We do monthly challenges, the Browns supply us with a lot of giveaways and prizes for the kids, as well as our attendance pledges that we do at the beginning of the year,” Big Creek principal Lindsey Capacetti told clevelandbrowns.com. “And having the partnership to have them be able to come in and do events like this is just cherry on top of the cake. It’s incredible.”
Monday’s visit also opened a second door. The takeover served as Berea’s introductory event for Browns Flag In-Schools, a turn-key flag football program the Browns provide to physical education teachers, making Berea the program’s 18th district, according to the Browns. The program, currently active in 17 Stay in the Game! districts, gives students a school-based activity designed to keep them engaged — and coming to school.
The Big Creek stop was the third of four Gym Class Takeovers the Browns scheduled for this fall semester. The second took place October 13 at Eliza Northrop Elementary School in Medina, where running back Jaleel McLaughlin presented a similar $2,500 check to Medina City Schools, according to the Browns. Each stop follows the same pattern — an assembly, a check for the district’s attendance work, and hands-on stations reserved for students whose attendance earned the reward.
For Middleburg Heights families, the takeaway is practical as well as celebratory. Gains like Big Creek’s are built in ordinary weeks, through start-of-year pledges and monthly challenges run with Browns-supplied prizes. A famous visitor is the reward, school leaders say, but the habit being rewarded — getting to school, on time, most days — is what lifts reading, math and everything after.
What happens next is already on the calendar. The Browns have one more Gym Class Takeover to hold before the fall semester ends, and Berea students will begin the Browns Flag In-Schools program in physical education classes. Big Creek, meanwhile, keeps tracking the number that brought Verse to its gym — and its students, shirts signed and flags in hand, have a visible reason to keep it moving down.