Most people don't think of elementary schools as alma maters. We save that kind of reverence for the institutions we leave in caps and gowns, often forgetting the quieter, formative stretch that shaped us well before diplomas ever did. But in Benton, our hometown, this grade school challenges that assumption—not by unearned boasts, but by simply pointing to its people.

Walk the halls of Benton Grade School today and you’ll hear the ordinary chorus of lockers closing, sneakers squeaking, and teachers guiding students through the beautifully messy process of growing up. But look closer, and you’ll see something extraordinary: the slow, determined forging of futures.

Here, the work isn’t flashy. It’s consistent. Cumulative. It's the early morning reading groups. The after-school basketball practices. The moments when a child realizes they’re capable of solving a problem—academic, emotional, or otherwise—that they couldn't solve yesterday. It's the investment of dozens of adults whose impact may not be immediately visible but whose influence will echo in boardrooms, hospital wards, shop floors, studios, bean fields, and classrooms for decades.

And that’s precisely why Benton Grade School is doing something a little unusual this Summer: dedicating this issue of Connections47 to its alumni.

At first blush, the idea might surprise you. “An alumni issue? For a grade school?” some might ask. But for Superintendent Dr. Steve Smith and the entire Benton community, the decision makes perfect sense.

“Our students don’t become remarkable in high school,” Smith says. “They are remarkable, long before that. Our job is to create the conditions that help them recognize it… and leverage it.”

This story is about those conditions—and the belief that while K–8 education may be a beginning, it’s not minor. It’s foundational. It’s where trajectories are set, not by accident, but by design.

The First Launchpad

Think of Benton Grade School as a kind of academic, athletic, and cultural trainyard: a place where young people are coupled to possibility and self-switched onto different tracks of opportunities that will carry them into the future. Some will grow into engineers, nurses, welders, or small business owners. Others will become artists, soldiers, mayors, or missionaries. Some may stay close. Others will see the world. But all of them will have passed through the same hallways, sat in the same classrooms, and looked up to the same gym rafters during assemblies.

In Benton, the success of those future adults is no accident. It's powered by a relentless belief in what young people can do—and who they can become—with the right support.

“You don’t have to wait until you’re older to be seen here,” says one teacher. “We honor the effort right now, in the moment. That’s the culture.”

A Community That Lifts

Benton doesn’t outsource its belief in young people. This is a place where the broader community plays an active role, not just in supporting the school’s mission, but in living it.

You’ll see it in the way businesses donate time, tools, and treats to student events. In how often local veterans come to speak at school assemblies. In the community members who fill the stands at every game, even if they don’t have a child on the team. It's a little like having a sixth man on the court: not a player, but a presence—quiet, unwavering, and always ready to lift a child one more rung up the ladder of confidence.

“You can’t quantify it,” says Dr. Smith. “But you can feel it.”

This network of support becomes especially important in the transitional years of Junior High. That middle-school season of life—often marked by awkward growth spurts, emerging identity, and uncertain social terrain—can be turbulent. But at Benton, it’s a time when staff lean in even harder, offering both boundaries and belief, direction and grace.

“We don’t just teach content,” says Principal, Ellen Gibbs. “We teach courage.”

A Tapestry of Influence

The cast of characters doing this work is vast: teachers, of course, but also specialists, paraprofessionals, custodians, board members, volunteers, bus drivers, administrators, cafeteria staff, and so many others. Their collective effort weaves a net that catches kids when they stumble and propels them when they’re ready to fly.

And fly, they do.

The alumni featured in this issue are not just success stories—they are reminders. They remind us that greatness doesn't begin at a job interview or a college acceptance letter. It starts in a hallway where a first-grader learns how to speak in front of a class. It starts with a fifth-grade science fair, a sixth-grade choir concert, a seventh-grade math challenge, or an eighth-grade moment of mentorship.

It starts at Benton Grade School.

Gratitude as Fuel

What makes this alumni issue so special is not just what the graduates have gone on to do, but how they reflect on their roots. Time and again, these former students point back to the role their early school experience played in helping them believe in themselves.

“I didn’t know at the time how important it was,” one alum said. “But looking back, I can see that everything started at Benton.”

Others speak of specific teachers who took an interest, coaches who showed them how to channel their energy, or friends they met in elementary school who remain important today.

That’s what makes this issue a celebration not only of alumni, but of everyone who contributed to their becoming. It is, in many ways, a love letter to the idea that the early years matter—a lot.

Punching Well Above our Weight

On reflection, as I’ve had the opportunity to get to know this school over the last several years, and the issues of Connections47 I’ve had the opportunity to help develop, it occurs to me that Benton Grade School doesn’t just meet expectations—it routinely exceeds them. For a K–8 district in a rural setting, the scope and caliber of its offerings are nothing short of remarkable. Its art program is a vibrant, imaginative hub where creativity is both encouraged and expertly cultivated. Its robotics curriculum gives students a hands-on introduction to engineering and problem-solving that rivals programs found in much larger, better-resourced districts. Foreign language options—still a rarity at this level—open up global perspectives far earlier than most schools even attempt. And across the board, from science to music to extracurriculars, Benton delivers a rigorous, enriching educational experience that prepares students not just for high school, but for a life of thinking, making, and contributing. This is a school that punches well above its weight—and does so with intention.

The Steward of Something Bigger

At the helm of all this is Dr. Steve Smith, who, to his credit, sees himself less as a leader and more as a steward. He knows that what makes Benton Grade School special isn't his vision alone—it’s the collective will of a community that believes in kids.

“I’m lucky,” he says. “I get to stand beside people who are doing sacred work. And I get to help tell the story of what that work makes possible.”

This magazine is part of that story. It’s a spotlight on former students, yes—but more than that, it’s a mirror held up to the school itself, reflecting the care, consistency, and quiet power that goes into every lesson plan, every phone call home, every smile in the hallway.

Because in Benton, no success story is ever separate from its start.