RHS graduate and OSU athlete visits students
Ridgewood High School graduate Bryce Prater who played on the Ohio State National Championship football team visited students from kindergarten through third grade in the gymnasium at Ridgewood Elementary School on Feb. 7.
Each elementary class had a photo taken with Prater and each student will receive an autographed copy of the picture. They were invited to have a Q&A session with Prater and bring OSU paraphernalia for him to autograph.
Prater played football for Ridgewood, is a fourth year student at Ohio State, and played football there as well.
“I went to Ridgewood Elementary, Ridgewood High School and played junior high and high school football at Ridgewood for six years,” Prater said. “After that I continued my career at Ohio State. My freshman year we went to the Rose Bowl, played Utah and we won. Sophomore year was the Peach Bowl and we lost to Georgia in Atlanta. Junior year we played Missouri in the Dallas Cowboy Stadium for the Cotton Bowl and we lost that game. But this year, my fourth and final year, we beat Tennessee in the Horseshoe. Then, we beat Oregon back at the Rose Bowl. Then back to the Cotton Bowl and we beat Texas. After Texas we went back to the Peach Bowl. It was the National Championship in Atlanta where we beat Notre Dame to win.”
Prater said, “My senior year in high school, I didn’t know if I wanted to go to college. I had an idea that I wanted to play a sport, but I wasn’t sure. I was thinking about job careers but at my last football game a recruiter from Ohio State was there and reached out to my brother, we started training and that is when my career took off. ”
Ridgewood Superintendent Mike Masloski said, “We are very proud of Bryce Prater and all of his accomplishments, his determination, and his resilience as an Ohio State athlete participating in a National Championship team. He really devoted four years to putting it all in to get this accomplishment. We are also proud that in those four years of his academics he was all Big Ten selection all four years. So he has been able to balance his academics as well as being a Division I athlete. He is a great model to our students here at Ridgewood, with a determination and work ethic in doing the right thing and what you are able to accomplish.”
Masloski is proud of the whole Prater family. “Jason is a teacher and a coach, he teaches at the career center and has worked with our student athletes. His mom Maria is a teacher for us and helps coach track, his sister Lexi was a Division I athlete at Youngstown State and recently got her master’s. His twin brother Zach played for 2 years at Ohio State. During those two years he was also academic all Big 10. We are really proud of the Prater family, they really demonstrate the strong work ethic and family values that they have to accomplish the goals they want.”
Bryce said, “Mike Masloski got ahold of me and my family. My mom teaches at the middle school and we thought it would be kind of cool to set this up so I could come back and see the kids where I used to go to school and share where I used to be to inspire them. I am really glad that what happened happened. Experiencing the national championship and now I get to come back and share it with the community that loves the sport as much as I do.”
Category: Education, Multimedia, Photo Galleries
