Liberty: Marc Greenburg’s mantra? “Don’t ever give up”

The COVID pandemic made one thing perfectly clear to Liberty High School senior Marc Greenburg: Online academic instruction is not his strong suit.

Greenburg had attended the Enrichment Cooperative at the Bryant campus from kindergarten until his freshman year in high school, in September 2020. He was in classes there two days a week, and completed the rest of his lessons through traditional textbooks and assignments.

COVID changed everything, and TEC adopted a hybrid model for the 2020-21 school year, blending the classroom experience with Spokane Virtual Learning courses. That’s when Greenburg had his “uh-oh” moment.

“My grades had always been pretty good,” he said, “but in SVL I was getting D’s. It was really hard to get myself to do the work. Without firm deadlines, I didn’t feel the pressure to complete it, and my grades slipped pretty quickly.”

Transferring to Liberty was his parents’ idea, Greenburg said, but he was willing to try.

“There was no other way but up,” he said. “In the spring of my freshman year, I was not doing well, and it was getting worse. It felt pretty terrible when my grades fell. Going to Liberty was a big change, but I was open to it.”

He already had friends there because he had participated in cross country and track at Liberty, and they were as excited as he was.

“Going to school five days a week, seven periods a day was a lot different from TEC, but it was way better for me,” he said. “Being in the classroom with my teachers made everything seem more important, and I was able to see the results of my work more quickly. My grades improved almost immediately.”

In addition to sports, Greenburg has participated in wind ensemble, marching band, pep band, and concert band at Liberty, all on percussion instruments. When he has time, he enjoys getting together with friends to play.

“Marc is a one-of-a-kind student who goes above and beyond expectations,” band instructor Morgan Pendon said. “He displays exceptional character, works hard, and makes everyone around him better. He came into Liberty with limited percussion experience, but he has become one of my most reliable players.”

He’s not certain of his plans beyond high school, but is leaning toward attending a trades program to become an electrician. What interests him about that field, he said, is learning how electrical systems work and how to install them. One thing that he knows for sure is that he wants to work with his hands. In that, he’s following his father’s lead – his dad is a carpenter.

He is thankful that the lessons he learned during the pandemic have prepared him for whatever comes next: “You should stay disciplined and motivated even when it seems that everything is against you. Don’t ever give up.”