Inside Jaylen Brown’s big day in inner-city Boston that “modified all the things”

Jaylon Mason anticipated Wednesday to be simply one other regular day at Dorchester’s Brooke Excessive Faculty.

Then, at a seemingly mundane college meeting, Jaylen Brown walked in by the door.

Surprised, the a whole bunch of excessive schoolers on the auditorium went berserk, screaming, leaping out of their seats, utterly incapable of containing their pleasure as an exciting actuality set in.

One among their favourite athletes, one in every of their largest function fashions, was at their college.

“I noticed a pair youngsters even cry,” Mason instructed CelticsBlog.

Brown’s go to to Brooke Excessive Faculty was one in every of 5 college visits he made on Wednesday. He frolicked at Mildred Avenue Ok-8 in Mattapan, swung by New Mission Excessive Faculty and Lilla and Frederic Pilot Center Faculty in Dorchester, and frolicked at Nathan Hale Elementary Faculty in Roxbury.

The visits got here just some days after Brown instructed CelticsBlog he was leaning towards spending most of his offseason in Boston for the primary time in his Celtics tenure.

“I’m locally so much, however I’m leaning towards being much more locally,” Brown mentioned. “I’m simply actually making an attempt to the touch this group and be round, be obtainable for town of Boston.”

Simply 4 days later, Brown demonstrated the impression of only a single day of real group engagement.

How Jaylen Brown ended up at Brooke Excessive Faculty

In mid-April, Shantae Romain, Brooke Excessive Faculty’s Director of Operations, met Brown at a personal night occasion at the highschool that centered round monetary literacy, well being, spirituality, and self-mastery.

Brown was one in every of a number of visitor audio system on the 19Keys occasion, and Romain realized she had a once-in-a-lifetime alternative to straight make the case for the Celtics celebrity to come back by and meet her college students. Romain was additionally well-aware that her college students would quickly be devastated to be taught that Brown visited Brooke Excessive throughout a time after they weren’t current.

“When the youngsters noticed on social media, they have been like, ‘Oh my gosh, Jaylen Brown was in our constructing, and also you didn’t inform us,’” Romain instructed CelticsBlog with a chuckle. “They hated me for that.”

So, with out hesitation, she approached Brown on the occasion and shot her shot.

“I used to be like, ‘Hey, that is nice that you simply’re right here as a visitor speaker,’” Romain mentioned. “However, that is who we’re. That is our college group. These are our children. I’d be honored for those who might come again and converse to them straight in that capability.’”

Brown and his staff couldn’t make any guarantees, however the 2024 Finals MVP mentioned he would attempt to return within the offseason whereas college was nonetheless in session. Romain by no means anticipated the go to to really happen.

Then, final Sunday, when she was cleansing her home, she bought an sudden name from Brown’s staff. Brown wished to come back frolicked at Brooke Excessive Faculty, simply as Romain had urged a number of weeks prior. His solely request? To maintain all the things a shock from each the scholars and the employees.

Forward of the momentous day, Romain and Brown jumped on the telephone for a prep name, and the passionate college administrator shared with the Celtics star background details about her college and college students.

“The truth that they remembered their phrase to me, simply spoke volumes about who he’s an individual, who his staff are as individuals,” she mentioned, shouting out Brown’s safety guard, Russell, for his function in making the occasion a actuality.

On Wednesday, the big day lastly arrived. It’s exhausting for these in attendance to search out the phrases to explain simply the way it felt when Brown took the stage.

“It was essentially the most electrical, energetic second within the room,” Romain mentioned. “Simply — goosebumps.”

For over an hour, Brown immersed himself amongst the scholars, sitting with them within the crowd, calling many onto the stage, and spending further time with numerous athletes and prime tutorial performers.

“This introduced a lot pleasure to college students lives,” Romain mentioned. “A star, an NBA champion, an NBA All-Star, a Celtics participant, strolling by the identical halls they stroll by — it simply doesn’t occur. To many of the college students within the room, he’s their idol.”

Romain believes her college students earned such a unprecedented alternative with their unwavering dedication and dedication.

“They’re well-behaved, they’re respectful, they’re superb, educated, gifted, clever college students,” she mentioned. “I’m like, ‘Because of this you guys deserve this.’”

After the go to, her inbox was inundated with emails of gratitude from numerous college students.

“They have been like, ‘That simply modified my life. That simply modified all the things. That simply made us really feel extra motivated, and pushed us by this 12 months… they have been like, you don’t even know what this simply did for us,’” Romain mentioned. “To me, that’s all the things.”

Romain, who’s born and raised in Dorchester, mentioned she couldn’t even fathom an occasion like this going down when she was in class.

“This doesn’t occur to us,” she mentioned. “This doesn’t occur in Dorchester. This doesn’t occur in internal cities.”

Earlier than Jaylon Mason completed his interview with CelticsBlog, he gave an editorial be aware for the story: “Give a variety of credit score to Shantae Romain. She made this occur.”

The impression of a Celtics celebrity making the journey to Dorchester

When Jaylen Brown took the stage, he delievered a singular message for every grade degree. He pushed the juniors to take a management function forward of their closing 12 months. And, he urged the seniors to embrace the subsequent steps on their journeys — and at all times keep in mind who they have been and the place they got here from.

“I felt prefer it actually did uplift the college,” Mason mentioned.

Brown additionally wished to listen to from the scholars straight, so he introduced many onto the stage to formaly launched themselves, with a easy directive: “Inform me who you might be. Inform me about your college.”

The Celtics star gifted signed game-worn sneakers to the college’s two valedictorian and salutatorian candidates, Syriana Etheart and Maryama Ali. The sneakers have been from one in every of his finest video games of the 2025 playoffs, Sport 5 in opposition to the Knicks, through which he tallied 26 factors, 12 assists, and eight rebounds en path to a blowout victory.

Brown frolicked with college students, autographing their garments, taking photographs with them, giving them phrases of knowledge, and instilling them with unwaving self-belief. Mason was sporting a black shirt, so he had Brown signal his arm.

With finals season just some days away, the motivation was significantly well timed, college students mentioned.

“He simply instructed us to maintain grinding in class, actually – we might obtain what he might obtain, so long as we put our minds to it,” Mason mentioned. “He instructed us simply to maintain working exhausting and [showed] the place exhausting work will get you.”

For Mason — who loves science, anime, and comedian books — the occasion highlighted that he wasn’t all that completely different from the Celtics star. The senior mentioned he realized that identical to him, Brown was “lowkey a nerd.”

“I noticed I might obtain large issues too, if I simply put some exhausting work into it,” Mason mentioned.

Mason has his tutorial plans laid out for the foreseeable future: he’ll be attending Bunker Hill Neighborhood School within the fall to review communication, after which he hopes to switch to UMass Boston, the place’ll main in enterprise with the last word aspiration of changing into a advertising and marketing supervisor.

Wednesday’s go to additional strengthened the significance of sticking to his well-thought-out tutorial plan.

Brown was initially anticipated to spend 25 minutes at Brooke Excessive as a part of his busy college tour on Wednesday. However, he ended up spending greater than an hour, one thing that’s develop into some extent of delight for college kids.

“I’m not gonna lie, I really feel like he actually did like our college essentially the most,” Mason mentioned, explaining he had scrolled by Tik Toks from the assorted faculties Brown visited and are available to that conclusion.

Most of the youngsters have by no means gotten the prospect to attend a Celtics recreation in individual. So, to spend one-on-one time with a participant of Brown’s stature was surreal.

Issues didn’t return to regular the subsequent day in school.

“Folks couldn’t cease speaking about it, I can’t even lie,” Mason mentioned. “It’s the equal of, like, sitting in your mattress and consuming cereal, watching TV, and like, Obama is available in.”

For Mason, the go to additionally made Brown really feel extra relatable. Whereas he was already a large fan of the Celtics All-Star, the go to propelled issues to a different degree.

“Jaylen Brown is just a little little bit of an underdog,” Mason mentioned. “I like an underdog sort of individual… he’s simply easy. I don’t know find out how to describe it – he looks like somebody I might be like, if I actually put my thoughts to it.”

The fact that somebody as high-profile as Brown would select to spend time with them, at their college nonetheless didn’t really feel actual.

“He really got here to Dorchester,” Mason mentioned, seemingly nonetheless incredulous. “Jaylen Brown was simply displaying us he beloved our group. Often, you count on NBA gamers to be in it for the cash. However he’s actually on this for the group. So, it actually did make me really feel very nice. And he mentioned he was gonna come again with a pair extra buddies subsequent time. I hope he comes again earlier than I graduate, although — I’m making an attempt to see these different couple of buddies he’s about to deliver.”

Brown has loads of different plans within the Boston group this summer time.

As he does almost yearly, he’s internet hosting the Bridge program in July, the place choose Black and Brown youth from the Boston space will attend a multi-day academic initiative at MIT run by Brown’s 7uice basis.

“Our child within the metropolis of Boston, Mattapan, Dorchester, Hyde Park — they want this,” Romain mentioned, urging different Celtics gamers and high-profile Boston figures to take time of their schedules to make some of these visits.

Within the meantime, the 1000’s of scholars that met Brown on Wednesday will always remember it, his recommendation etched of their reminiscence forver.

“The trajectory of lives was modified this week,” Romain mentioned.