The Bulldogs recognized one young achiever who has earned attention across the country for his performance on the baseball field.
Still, in the eighth grade at Bridgeport Middle School, Brett has a passion for the game and skills to match, having been named a Golden Arm winner in Indiana in 2023. Brett said the Golden Arm is a baseball-throwing competition where players are judged on accuracy.
“There were balls set up on cones, and I had to throw them a certain distance.”
He plays first base and pitches.
In Pigeon Forge, Tennessee he was Player of the Game August of 2023 during the All-Ripken Games where scouts evaluate and choose the top players. He was a Golden Arm runner-up in Fort Myers, Florida, during Junior All-American Games November of 2023. Brett also played in Panama City Beach, Florida in December of 2023, and in Cooperstown, New York July of 2024. During the All-American Games with Baseball Youth in Reno-Tahoe, Nevada, he won a Silver Slugger Award for Best at Bat and was a Hometown Derby runner-up with eight home runs in July of 2024. He played on the Team Tricksters in Cleveland this past July, the All-Ripken in Aberdeen, Maryland in August, and will play at Fort Myers again in December during an event hosted by the Perfect Game scouting organization.
On Sept. 18, the Bridgeport Exempted Village School District Board of Education welcomed Brett, his parents and sister. Superintendent Brent Ripley congratulated Brett and commended his family for their support.
“Hard work is important in life. You certainly have no issue with that quality” Ripley said. “We’re looking forward to you joining our high school team.”
Board members asked Brett about elements of his travels, such as meeting the Savannah Bananas baseball team from Georgia. Board member Kori Rosnick said it has been a pleasure watching Brett’s skills develop.
Brett has ambitions to pursue baseball.
“I’d love to play professionally. If I can work hard enough and put together some good seasons, I could definitely play collegiately.”
Ripley said persistence, hard work, grit, a good attitude, and some luck along the way will pay off.
In other matters, school nurse Dana Kreiter reported on the district’s cardiac response plan. She has worked throughout the summer with Nationwide Children’s Hospital, as well as with Project ADAM (Automated Defibrillators in Adam’s Memory), an initiative named after a young man who died from sudden cardiac arrest and dedicated to helping schools, sporting programs and community sites obtain equipment and training to provide quick, life-saving response to a cardiac emergency.
“We’ve developed the formal plan,” Kreiter said. “It can be distributed to all staff members. It can be posted by our AEDs (automated external defibrillators). Teachers and everybody will have it, coaches will have it so they know the steps to follow if there is a cardiac arrest, and we are working on training and education.”
She added the entire district staff has had a training and education session with Nationwide Children’s Hospital. They reviewed procedures such as the locations of AEDs and identifying the signs and symptoms of cardiac arrest and how to respond. Kreiter said the first three minutes are crucial.
“Right now, I am recruiting for a cardiac emergency response team, 10-15 people would be the ones who would respond if it is a cardiac emergency.”
She said the district would have one drill per year to be designated a Heart Safe School through Project ADAM out of Nationwide Children’s Hospital.
Board member Kori Rosnick asked about the locations and accessibility of the AEDs. In answer to a question from board member Don Cash, Rosnick said coaches are trained in the use of AEDs.
The board approved the plan.
