The trees are budding with new leaves, the grass has begun to grow, and the tulips and crocuses are
blooming. Spring has sprung, and we are officially in the fourth quarter of the 2023-2024 school year!
When I was a football coach, often times our players would raise their hands in the air with their thumb
bent to make the number 4, as a reminder to persevere, execute the game plan, implement the half
time adjustments, and finish the game strong. With three quarters of school in the rear view, we need
to commit to a strong finish.

In February and March, a committee of students, parents, teachers, board member, and administrators
met with our consultant with The Impact Group for our Portrait of an Eagle project, which is in support
of our Strategic Plan. Our work was to identify and define the character traits we feel every student
should possess by the time they graduate from Liberty-Benton. These character traits help define our
culture, and will be a k-12 point of focus as we nurture, grow, and educate our students. I’ll be sharing
the end result of our “Portrait of an Eagle” project in its entirety with everyone soon, but since we’re
officially in the fourth quarter, I thought I’d share a sneak peak of one of the character traits our
committee felt every eagle should possess before graduating.

Resilience: We are motivated to persevere through challenges with grit and determination.  We are
willing to embrace and overcome setbacks as a necessary step toward growth.  We know that hard work
creates opportunities to adapt, grow and be successful in our changing world.  

I love that our group identified resilience as a point of focus, and used terms like “grit”, “hard work”. and
“determination” as the remedy to overcome setbacks to achieve growth. I love watching our students
pursue excellence by overcoming challenges in the classroom, through musical and theatrical
performances and the arts, on the court, mat, course, and field of athletics. As we enter the fourth
quarter, be resilient and finish the year strong!

Fly Higher!

Bruce Otley
Superintendent