Brewers honor Southern Bluffs teacher

Baseball fun Tuesday afternoon at Southern Bluffs Elementary as the Milwaukee Brewers Famous Racing Sausages make a stop at the school to the delight of the students and surprise for one teacher. 

They were there as part of their “Famous Racing Sausage” tour around Wisconsin this season.  

The stop included taking time to honor teacher Jennifer Friedman, a 1^st grade teacher at the school.  

She received an award as a Brewers Grand Slam Teacher as well as a custom Brewers jersey with her name on back from the team’s president Rick Schlesinger.  

He also presented a $1,000 check to Principal Amanda Durnen and the school from the team. 

Schlesinger said it’s fun to see the kids and honor teachers, who he says, “they’re some of the real heroes in this state.” 

Friedman said she had no idea she’s be one of those teachers. She said she knew the Brewers were stopping at the school but had no inkling what was going to happen.  

As the award was being handed out, her family came into the gymnasium to congratulate her. All the while, the school’s students and staff were cheering what was happening and her efforts in the classroom.  

“The kids are really what drives me. Just the connections and relationships with the kids is the most important thing to me. And so to see their excitement really just touched my heart quite a bit,” Friedman said. 

Once the ceremonies were out of the way, it was time for some fun as the Racing Sausages made their appearance to more excitement from the kids.  

With racing in their name, there was one, of course, on a course around the gymnasium.

Afterwards, they lined up to high-five the kids as they went back to the classroom.  

Plenty of pictures were taken, too, with the sausages. The Friedman family posed with all of them.  

Schlesinger said the Brewers plan to make similar stops in every county in the state over the next several years.  

“More than half of our fans come from outside southeastern Wisconsin,” Schlesinger said. “We have to draw from the whole state.  So, we want to reach out to the state. The state has given us the funding to make sure that we’re at the ballpark till 2050. And everybody in the state has helped contribute to it with their tax dollars. So, it’s a little way to give back to the communities around the state and celebrating a little Brewers love.”