Marc Liberta Address: 323 South Third St. Marion, IL 62959 Phone: (618) 998-9227 E-mail:marc.liberta@juno.com Employer: Marion Public Schools Occupation: Second Grade Teacher Marital Status: Single Spouse's Name: TBA Education and Degrees: BS, Elementary Education, SIU Carbondale Enough graduate credits from four different university campuses, but no official MA yet. Hobbies and Interests: Music, railroad history, photography, home improvement projects.     Taken during a full moon in April, after dark. The colors in the sky were not visible to the eye, and a flash was used to illuminate the foreground in this eight-second exposure. Personal / Professional Achievements: Faculty member of Mendoza Elementary, recognized by the Department of Education as a Blue Ribbon School in 1997. Words of Wisdom: "Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did. So throw off the bow lines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." --Mark Twain Favorite memory or song from your days at U High: "Runnin' with the Devil" and all that followed Van Halen's first effort -- just seems it was playing more often than not when gray areas were being explored. How many miles will you travel to this reunion? Approx. 1250 Each of our two reunions has, for me, coincided with cross-country moves. Our first was held when I had only 6 days before my move to Phoenix. I soon was asking myself 'what have I done' when faced with record breaking heat that caused even the airport to close because nobody was sure that the air could support the planes. But by the next summer I had learned how to deal with the desert heat, and playing golf in shorts, in January, sure can give you a fresh perspective on things. It's been a good ten years, professionally. I taught at two schools that epitomize the Jekyll and Hyde one finds in public education, and my conclusion simply is that a principal really determines what kind of community a school can become. I am still in awe of the staff I had the opportunity to work with for six years, and leaving--even to return to my spiritual home of Southern Illinois--was not easy. That brings us to our second reunion, which found me already on my way to Marion, IL, via a stopover to visit my sister in Ft. Worth, TX. I am spending a few years in Marion to get established, but my ultimate goal is to build a house on the 65 acres of land that I bought several years ago near New Burnside, IL. It's located in the middle of Shawnee National Forest, has a three acre pond, and is about half timber, half pasture. The creek that runs through it cinched the deal for me when I first saw it. If we indeed have a twenty-fifth reunion, I am laying odds that I'll be moving that week.   The creek that won me over. This is going to be 'home' in a few years.

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