Kai Brisk is a very unique student at Buffalo High School. He’s a pitcher on varsity and has been throwing heat for years. More surprisingly, Brisk is very invested in ceramics. One wouldn’t expect this just by looking at him, he is 6’5″ and the way he wears his baseball cap nearly everyday screams jock.
“My biggest accomplishment for baseball so far has to be going to state for legion [the summer baseball league for varsity players] last summer,” Brisk said.
When Brisk isn’t on the baseball field he spends a lot of time in room D-106, the room where he throws clay. A lot of people have spent one or two quarters in that room with Mr. Holtz but Brisk has spent five quarters there. He’s completed all of the ceramics classes offered at BHS and has been a mentor for other ceramics classes twice. He is now involved in an independent study, allowing him to further improve his skills on the wheel.
“It’s really fun to watch him create, he’s nonstop and sometimes my job is to just get out of the way and watch him create,” Holtz said.
Brisk is a very skilled potter too, last year he threw a massive 37.5 lbs of clay at once.
Ceramics teacher Jon Holtz commented on this, “I often use him as an example in class… He gets a lot of attention from the other students, this is usually because of how big his work is.”
Brisk has grown to be skilled in both baseball and ceramics but this is all because of his work ethic and determination to be the best he can. This is something Holtz stressed and he made it clear that Brisk is where he is today because of all the work he’s put in. Brisk has also been playing baseball since he was around five years old and has spent a lot of time in summer leagues and putting in extra work.
Next year Brisk is taking his baseball skills to the Division II school, Northern State University. He also plans to continue his passion for ceramics and will be majoring in it.
Photos by Rob LaPlante and by and Seth Curran
