Jimmy T. Martin, a now successful business owner of the company named “Brrrn”, is an alumni of the Wyoming Valley West High school and graduated in 2003. 

In October of 2021, Martin appeared for an assembly at WVWHS, as the first alumni starting the Spartan Success Story tradition. 

“I always strive to be better the next day,  but it was nice to come back literally 18 years after I graduated,” said Martin. “I was honored that Mr. Griffith (12th grade English teacher at WVW) asked me to kind of kick off the whole Spartan Success Story.”

Martin explained how the school felt like an extension of his home.

“Seeing people that I’ve spent a few years of my life with, it kinda felt like an ongoing summer camp,” Martin stated. “It was a melting pot of so many different types of people interested in a lot of different things, under one roof.”

While in high school, Martin contributed to the school’s wrestling and football team as well as leading his senior fall play. Martin was captain of the wrestling and football team.

“I was interested in a lot of different things and I felt that was a flaw not a strength; to not feeling like you fit one certain group of people,” explained Martin. “But I’m happy that over time I realized it was a strength.

Besides being a jack of all trades, Martin also formed a band in high school. 

“Most notably…my sophomore year, [I] formed a boyband,” he said. “We were an ‘*NSYNC’ cover boy band named ‘Diversity.’”

Martin and a, now Wyoming Valley West history teacher, Randy Shoemaker who graduated in 2004, played on the wrestling and football team together. Martin and Shoemaker are still friends today and still keep in touch. They have known each other since elementary school and their bond continues to grow. 

“I considered him, like a bigger brother, almost,” said Shoemaker as he explained how smart and kind Martin has been, since he had known him. 

Martin now owns a company, ‘Brrrn’, that is most known for their ‘Brrrn Board’. The “Brrrn Board” has been seen on shows like ‘Kelly and Ryan’ and written about from companies like The New York Times.

“There’s something amazing about being able to look at something you built, and see a lot of people be psyched about it. It’s a really good feeling,” claimed Martin. “The business is really a reminder of resiliency; about thinking differently about how you do things and that progress isn’t linear. We need to adapt to new ways of thinking in order to move forward.”

Martin claimed himself as a ‘quote guy,’ and is no stranger to giving motivational sayings to inspire students, and encouraged Spartans to “Follow the unusual and heighten it.”