Life doesn’t always follow a straight path, and after 35 years in education, physics teacher Bill Bowen’s journey to Westford Academy and the impact he has had on the community are perfect lessons on the beauty of uncertainty and the fulfillment that waits at every unexpected turn.
“I was not planning to be here for 30 years,” Bowen said. “I was always saying, ‘Five to seven years and I’m out. I’m moving on to the next thing.’ And I just was having fun. There wasn’t any reason to leave.”
Bowen has been teaching at WA since 1993, but his career in education began three years prior and thousands of miles away in Izmir, Turkey. After more than three decades of teaching engineering, robotics, and all three levels of physics, as well as coaching multiple sports teams, Bowen will be retiring on Sept. 17, his 65th birthday.
“Mr. Bowen was always in class with a smile and was never mad. He could always make your day better,” junior Will Poirier said. “He’s been a great teacher and deserves his retirement more than anyone.”
Even though he has now spent more than half of his life teaching, according to Bowen, a career in education was never a certainty. In fact, after high school, he immediately joined the workforce, jumping between trade jobs such as plumbing, carpentry, painting, and electrical work. Bowen’s turning point came three years later when he decided to pursue a degree in physics upon hearing about his friends’ positive experiences with college.
“I just sort of happened [to fall] into education. [I had] no plan. And anybody that thinks you’re planning to go to school and you’re going to be doing that for the rest of your life, you have no idea,” Bowen said. “You’re going to change jobs and you’re going to change what you do, and if you don’t, then you either know yourself really well and you’re perfectly content, or you’re settling for what you have.”
Bowen decided to attend Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts for its small school atmosphere and programs on alternative energy sources, a new field at the time. It was here that Bowen started teaching physics through his part-time job tutoring other students.
One bachelor’s degree and an associate degree in business later, Bowen was looking for a new experience before he settled down at a long-term job. According to Bowen, he considered taking a gap year, but after learning of a company that offered teaching positions abroad, he jumped at the chance to explore the world. Although he received offers from Honduras, Nicaragua, and numerous other countries, Bowen chose to travel to Izmir, Turkey, a coastal city on the Aegean Sea.
Despite having never heard of the city and being unfamiliar with the country, Bowen made the pivotal decision to take the job, which not only led to his first full time teaching position, but also led to Bowen’s introduction and marriage to his wife.
“I had a job offer in Izmir, Turkey. Didn’t have a clue where it was. Before the internet, I actually had to open an Atlas to look through the book,” Bowen said. “[…] And so I took [the job offer] and met my wife there, and life happened after, but Turkey is a wonderful country. Everybody in this world needs to go see Istanbul. […] It’s an amazing city.”
Bowen then returned to the U.S. and began teaching at a preparatory school in New Hampshire as a temporary measure to support his wife and newborn daughter. About a year later, Bowen moved to Westford and started teaching at WA in 1993. He set a time frame of five to seven years until he would move on to pursuing his original goal of developing technology for renewable energy sources.
Yet even with this plan set in place, Bowen grew more and more comfortable with Westford and formed a special connection with the community.
“The people here are wonderful, inviting, friendly, collegiate, always willing to share materials, stories, ideas, educational wisdom. I think it’s the strength of what we have in this building,” Bowen said.
According to physics teacher Tim Burns, Bowen has contributed to the strength of the community in a large way with his positivity and physics knowledge.
“Almost all [of] the Honors Physics curriculum all started with Mr. Bowen. So basically what we’re doing now is what he laid out,” Burns said. “It’s been really rewarding working with Mr. Bowen. He’s got a great level of optimism, which kind of rubs off on you.”
As a former high school athlete, Bowen also expanded his role in the WA community by taking on positions as the throwing coach for the track and field teams as well as the assistant coach for the boys’ and girls’ volleyball teams. Throughout Bowen’s years in the different communities of WA, his overarching philosophy of viewing each student as an individual has guided both his teaching strategies and personal interactions.
“Be patient. Be understanding. Be kind. Be forgiving. Be hard when there’s a need, crack the whip when there’s a need,” Bowen said. “Some kids hate when you yell at them. It’s coaching. You need to know how to approach everybody.”
With Bowen approaching retirement, many of his plans center around seeing the world at times when he would otherwise be in the school building. He plans to hike during a weekday, travel outside of school vacations, and potentially even pick up some pickleball. However, Bowen still plans to continue teaching on a smaller scale by tutoring students outside of school.
Although his warm smile and friendly jokes will be absent from the building, Bowen hopes that the impact he has left on his students remains with them when they look back on their high school experiences.
“I hope that people that took my class or had me in class, enjoyed the class and had a laugh every now and then and enjoyed my stories. You know, it’s always the stories that you tell that the kids remember,” Bowen said.
