Maya McFadden Photos
Students gasp at Renfrow's two football rings ...
... then notice the size of his hands.
After discovering a motivational Instagram page run by Hill Central School students, pro footballer Justin Renfrow popped into town to offer some real-life inspiration.
Renfrow, a Philadelphia born offensive tackle, joined the students and staff of Hill Central Thursday for a 2‑day visit to push students to chase their dreams and never give up on their goals.
Renfrow, 32, has played football professionally since 2014. He has played for NFL teams like the Arizona Cardinals, Green Bay Packers, Seattle Seahawks, San Francisco 49ers, and Buffalo Bills. In 2017 Renfrow shifted to playing professionally for the Canadian Football League (CFL), this past season with the Edmonton Elks.
The visit was organized by social studies teacher and School Culture Leader Brien Borgnine who created From Motivation to Inspiration, an Instagram account for his students to learn to use social media in a positive way and to keep them inspired and motivated daily.
Borgnine and Renfrow.
Borgnine’s goal is to use the social media account as a tool for the conflict resolution he engages in daily with his students.
Students create posts by combining short videos about their days with motivational quotes.
Renfrow agreed to partner with the school after watching a video from the Instagram account.
Borgnine, who has been teaching at Hill Central for ten years, also partnered with Bear’s Smokehouse Barbecue to bring the school’s seventh and eighth graders to the restaurant Wednesday to join Renfrow in creating a cooking episode on his online cooking show, What’s Cooking JR? The episode, not yet released, was filmed in the Bear’s kitchen and featured appearances by Hill Central students.
On Thursday the school hosted Renfrow for a read-aloud to its students and a catered lunch celebration for seventh and eighth graders. Bear’s donated 120 meals to the school for the celebration.
Borgnine said he hopes to increase the number of guest speakers for the initiative next year. “They deserve to meet their inspirations to be inspired to chase their dreams,” he said.
As the school’s culture leader for the past three years, Borgnine has looked to handle conflict mediation in new and creative ways, such as with the social media account and focusing on positive thoughts after negative interactions.
“If we only ever spend time on conflict mediation instead of also addressing what kinds of messages our kids are surrounded with, we just end up kind of in a hamster wheel,” Borgnine said.
Renfrow picked the book Chocolate Me! by Taye Diggs to read to several elementary classes then joined students for pictures and questions.
Students asked questions like “Why are you so tall?” and “what was your worst injury?”
To which Renfrow answered that he got tall from eating vegetables and that a severe thumb injury topped the many he’s sustained throughout the years.
A fourth grade student asked how he got so good at football and Renfrow told the fourth grade class that in high school he would workout with his football team daily while also traveling an hour and half everyday after his school practice to practice extra for another two hours.
Following the read-aloud, Renfrow spent time with students during their lunch period. He stopped at tables to see what students were having for lunch. Plates ranged from fruits and flaming hot Doritos to chicken tacos and vegetables.
Maya McFadden Photos
Justin Renfrow reads to Hill Central students.
He reminded a trio of boys interested in playing basketball and football professionally to stay on top of their academics. “You got to be a good student to even get the chance to play,” he told them.
In 2018 Renfrow was a member of the 106th Grey Cup championship team.
“I’ve been through a lot of obstacles but I didn’t let them deter me from my goal,” he said.
He reminded several students Thursday to focus on their goals and to not let anyone get in the way of them accomplishing them.
Throughout his professional career, Renfrow overcame obstacles like being passed over in a draft and having to switch positions.
“I went from being told I wasn’t good enough to starting on professional teams and playing for a top five team in the country,” he said.
In addition to football, Renfrow created the What’s Cooking JR? Youtube cooking show during the start of the pandemic. He travels to restaurant kitchens all over the country to cook meals.
“I’ve reached the pinnacle of football. Now it’s time to do with same with helping people,” he said.
Renfrow with parents.
Renfrow learned to cook from his mom and continued improving his skill while playing football. He would often cook up Sunday dinner for his teammates.
He was joined on his first trip to New Haven by his parents Chloe Beal and Craig Renfrow who instilled in him community service, football, and cooking.
School staffers took brief breaks to take pictures with Renfrow and thank him for inspiring the students.
Sixth-grader Neishalie Serrano, 12, spent most of her day Thursday helping to keep Renfrow on track.
Serrano, who is a dancer and gymnast, said meeting Renfrow was exciting. “Hearing stuff from someone who has a lot of followers and is famous makes me want to keep trying,” she said.
She said when she struggles with achieving her dream to become a professional dancer, she will always think back to Renfrow telling her to never give up.
Next year she suggested the school bring in Puerto Rican rapper and singer Bad Bunny.
Hill Central staff with Renfrow.