Retirement is one of the many pit stops in the paths of everyone’s lives, a luxury that all should enjoy. A couple of staff here at Liberty have reached that stage in life where they have the opportunity to take a break from work to explore new paths and new opportunities.

Mr. Bellow has been the principal of Liberty High School for 12 years, beginning in 2014. He’s been at Liberty for 22 years after helping open the building in 2003. While working here one of his favorite accomplishments was increasing the school’s academics and creating Liberty into the 4 star school it is known as now. He says, “I’m proud that we’re known throughout the city as a school with a great reputation for both academics and the performing arts and sports.” After retirement Mr. Bellow plans to be there for his wife and kids, doing what his wife needs him to and just overall being a great dad.

Mr. Goroff is an assistant principal whose work covers athletics and facilities as well as the supervision of the health, PE, and CTE departments here at Liberty. He’s been working at Liberty for 12 years, starting at the school in 2015. His favorite memories he’s made while working at Liberty include all the trips he’s taken around the country for athletic events. “We’ve been all over the country, from Hawaii to Texas, California, Utah, Arizona. And so going to those big football games has been awesome” he says. Another accomplishment he is proud of is winning the football state championship and beating Gorman in 2019 and the basketball state championships a few years ago as well. He’s also enjoyed working with the students and staff here at Liberty. He says, “We have such a great collection of teachers and students and support staff and administration that really make it a pleasure to come to work every day.” Following retirement, Mr Goroff plans to focus on himself and decompress after 30 years of working in the school system.

Mrs. Hillmon is an assistant principal whose work is mainly focused on the curriculum at Liberty. She originally started working here in 2011 as one of the deans of students for 4 years before becoming one of the assistant principals. She has worked at Liberty for 15 years in all. One of her favorite accomplishments was just becoming the curriculum AP at Liberty as the job is pretty heavy duty at times with responsibilities such as working closely with the principal, building a master schedule, and working with counselors therefore it’s become an even greater accomplishment for her. One of her favorite memories was the very first prom she experienced while working here. She says, “The kids actually stayed and danced and had the best time. And it’s been like the whole time I’ve been here. I love to see when the kids have a good time at our events.” After retirement, Mrs. Hillmon plans on taking it easy, possibly becoming a substitute teacher so she can come back to Liberty, and mostly taking care and spending time with her mom. She wants to focus on having fun and straying away from things that’ll strain her brain.

Mrs. Brasi is an English 11 and AP Seminar teacher here at Liberty. She’s been working at Liberty for 23 years as she helped open the building back in 2003. She started the AP Capstone program here and is also the Girl Up class advisor. One of her favorite memories she’s made while working at Liberty was just making lifelong friends during her time here. In terms of accomplishments, starting the AP Capstone Program was a big accomplishment for her. She says, “It’s not at every school and it’s a hard program to start but Mrs. Bukaty and I started it together and I think it’s been very successful.” Following retirement, she plans to travel more and spend time relaxing with her husband.

Mr. Ringler is a U.S. history teacher and former basketball coach for Liberty. He is currently in his 34th year of teaching, 5 of those years being here. Some of his favorite memories he’s made while working at Liberty include winning the state championship for basketball in 2022, beating Bishop Gorman in the state championship game, working with sophomore honors students in projects for world history, and reconnecting with old friends. For accomplishments he found teaching and coaching during the Covid pandemic and winning smaller tournaments in basketball a major one. Another one would be operating many nonprofit community basketball camps that served many local kids and fostering a family-type culture within the program. He says, “It helped our student-athletes learn to be leaders and it also built a lot of school spirit.” After he retires he plans on getting married in July, visiting his 3 kids more often, and traveling more. He says, “I’m going to be hitting the road and exploring a lot more of the whole Western United States, going to a lot more national parks and state parks that I’m interested in.”

Mr. Marritt has been a science teacher for Liberty since he first arrived in 2007. He started with teaching principles of science and AP chemistry but now is currently teaching physical science. Some of his major accomplishments include building both the AP Chemistry and physical science programs to become very strong, getting the highest AP scores in the district one year and building the curriculum for the physical science class. For memories he’s overall enjoyed being able to create a strong relationship and connection with his students and being able to have fun and memorable experiences with all of them. After retirement he plans on mainly traveling, especially in Southeast Asia, his first stop this summer being an island called Lombok in Indonesia where he wants to learn to surf. He plans on spending lots of time in Japan in a house he inherited from his late wife and spending more time with his family as well. He says, “The plan for a few years is spring and fall in Japan. Summer where it’s not so humid. Winter with my family or some other warm place.”