Higher learning

In the small town of Gerber, California, about a half-hour north of Chico, is a third-grade class full of some of the biggest Griz fans in the country.

There is so much passion for the Griz, the class's teacher, Keri Spengler, has decked out her room in maroon and silver.

"We have pennants, bulletin boards, we have a flag outside of our room, all kinds of things," she said.

It may seem odd for a small school of more than 400 kids to be the hub of Griz nation in the Sacramento River Valley, but they have a good reason.

Gerber Elementary sits in a disadvantaged part of Northern California farm country. "We're from an area that is pretty depressed," said Spengler - a place where the children of mostly migrant workers struggle to learn English let alone get the chance to pursue college later on in life.

In 2013 Gerber joined a network of more than 230 like-minded schools under the No Excuses University program. Member schools are "United by the belief that all children, even those who live in poverty or who are learning English, can be academically successful and attend college," according to the NEU website.

Part of being an NEU school is for each class to adopt a university that becomes a focal point of the kid's curriculum and a fun way to rally for activities. In return, a representative from the university adopts the class to give the students, no matter how young, the knowledge that they too have the power to obtain a college education.

Enter Griz football offensive lineman Cooper Sprunk.

Gerber Elementary was inspired to adopt Montana as its university of choice through a connection with former UM football player Eric Dawald. Spengler's husband knew Dawald (a four-year letterman with the Griz from 1982-85) through work, and when Gerber became an NEU school, they set out to make a connection with a current member of the team. With Sprunk and Dawald being longtime family friends, it was a natural fit.

"They asked me last year if I wanted to be pen pals with the kids at Gerber, and I said absolutely," said Sprunk, a business major and starting center who has been taking the time to correspond with Spengler's class for the last year and a half.

"He puts in so much effort. It's not just, write a quick note here and there. He'll answer any questions, he'll text, he Skypes them, he goes above and beyond," said Spengler, who says her class has soaked up Sprunk's seemingly boundless energy. "If you ever need to be cheered up, go see Cooper. He's super positive.

"That's been huge for the kids because it's not just some abstract idea about college," she added. "You have somebody (Sprunk) you can ask all these questions to, and who will give you their real-life experience."

Over a year's worth of letters and Skype calls, Sprunk fielded queries that any third-grader might ask an offensive lineman. He was always happy to answer anything they could throw at him, but Sprunk wanted more.

"It's usually, how fast are you? How tall are you? How's school going? Simple questions like that, but fun to answer," he said.

"When I started doing it again this year I thought it would be more meaningful to go down there instead of just Skyping and writing letters." And that's just what he did.

Last week, as most UM students were soaking up their final moments of freedom before classes resumed on Monday, Sprunk boarded a plane for Sacramento to keep his promise of meeting his pen pals face to face.

"Cooper has just been amazing," said Spengler. "When I told people he was actually going to come meet the kids, they said, Ah it will never work out. I know he's busy and has a lot going on, but he did it."

At a school like Gerber, people often come in to offer words of encouragement to the students. But with more than a year of getting to know the kids, Sprunk was eager to spend every moment he possibly could with his new friends.

"It takes a lot of time and effort (to visit a school), but when he was here, people thought, Oh he'll just make an appearance, meet the kids and be gone," Spengler said. "He's like, 'no. I want to spend the day, I want to get to know the kids as much as I can, and I want to help you out.'"

When Sprunk arrived at Gerber late last week, he was surprised to find the class had rolled out the red carpet for him.

"They knew I was coming because they had signs hung up around the school, which was pretty cool," he said.

Sprunk and the class then spent the morning reading to each other before breaking up into groups to work on math skills with flashcards. That's when he learned just how focused Spengler and the staff at Gerber are on preparing kids for higher education.

"When I started doing multiplication with them, I thought, I couldn't have done this when I was in the third grade!" he laughed.

After a morning spent in the classroom, Sprunk's inner football player took over as he led them through P.E. class. And when an offensive lineman is surrounded by third-graders, Sprunk felt like he was back on the gridiron.

"I did the warmups and stretches we do and ran with them. Then had recess, and they thought it would be really fun to go me versus all of them in tag. I was dead tired, so sweaty," he laughed.

"Then the fourth-grade class joined in; then everyone saw this big guy playing tag with everyone, so it ended up being probably 60-70 kids against me."

As Spengler looked on as the kids chased Sprunk around the school yard, she says she could see in his face the value that he was receiving after spending the morning giving so much value to the kids.

"I went into the day thinking he's doing us a favor, but I really feel like when he got here, I was surprised. I could tell he truly wanted to be here for him. He wanted to feel like he was doing something good for the kids and making a difference, and he was completely into it," she said.

So what sort of impact does a visit like this have on a class full of third-graders? What sort of lasting lessons will the kids take with them? And what sort of lessons will a big kid like Sprunk, who grew up a world away in the suburbs of Portland, Ore., take with him?

"It's humbling to see where people come from. I'd say I grew up pretty privileged for the most part. I've heard stories of kids having hard times growing up, so it was humbling to see first-hand what it's like and how hard some kids have it.

"For some of those kids, school is probably one of the lowest priorities they have, so I told them it's going to be hard. You have to stick with it, though, because it's the only way to really go to college or even high school. I tried to leave them with that message," said Sprunk, who connected the dots by relaying his own struggles in school to the class.

"He was very honest, and he said 'It wasn't always easy, school wasn't always easy for me, but if you want to go to college, you can't just be good at sports, you have to pay attention now. You can't fall behind, and you have to soak up what your teacher is telling you, or colleges won't want you'," Spengler said.

"Coming from him, I could see in some of my boys who struggle, that it meant something. A lightbulb went off."

As Sprunk's day at Gerber wore on, the relationships that were started long ago with hand-written letters and Skype calls began to come full circle. Friends were made, and trust was given, knowing that the class truly had someone on their side with whom they could relate.

"By the end of the day some of the kids had really opened up to me and told me some really personal stories about their families, so it was humbling to go down there and see how some people live.

"The teachers all really care about the students and care about the learning, which I don't think is true everywhere else. They definitely focus on educating kids and not just putting them through school," said Sprunk.

For Spengler, the influence of having a 6-4 mountain of a man, who shows genuine care as a trustworthy confidant for the kids comes with an impact that will be felt long into the future.

"I don't think they have a lot of strong role models, male role models especially. So, with things like bullying, being kind to others, things like that. They ask Cooper, have you ever been bullied? What do you do? And he'll just tell them," she said.

"He's very honest, but he's such a great person that I don't mind him answering that stuff because I know it's going to be something sincere and an answer we can respect.

"It makes more of a difference than people realize. Even today, some kids were off-task and not paying attention, and I said, what would Cooper think of this?"

Montana football has many traditions. On a crisp fall weekend in Missoula, those traditions are rekindled in and around Washington-Grizzly Stadium and passed from generation to generation, and teammate to teammate.

Sprunk hopes that after he's graduated and moved on to his next phase in life that this relationship with Gerber will become another one of Montana football's great traditions.

"I hope to pass the baton to someone else, he said. "I just hope other teammates would take it seriously and actually show interest in these kids because Kari had said a lot of people come in, say hi, do their thing, then leave.

"It meant a lot for me to stay the whole day because it really showed that I cared. I hope if someone else does it that they actually respond to letters, Skype with them and show that they care too."

And if others show that they care too, maybe one day we'll see a student from Gerber walking around The Oval on their way to class at UM.

University of Montana Athletics

Players Mentioned

Cooper Sprunk

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