Kelly Bowen teaches American Sign Language (ASL) levels one, two, and the college levels 1020 and 2010, she also teaches Hope Squad. Her story of how she became a teacher is a unique one.
“The week of teacher meetings, so the week before school, I was interpreting meetings, “Bowen says. They asked her on Thursday if she would like to teach. “I was like, oh, maybe in five years down the line we could talk about this again. And they said no how about Monday. You have a meeting with the principal at Hillcrest tomorrow. I was like this is not part of my plan, and I started teaching Monday”
Bowen explained she got into ASL because “I took Spanish for three or four years and was not good at it, then a deaf boy transferred to my high school and I thought he was really cute. So I was like, I’m gonna learn that language and I fell in love with it” College courses, ASL 1020 and 2010 were added by Bowen to Hillcrest last year. After noticing a lot of kids’ interests in ASL, she wanted to provide more opportunities for them to get credits for it. She uses Utah Valley University(UVU) for their program and loves it. “Even if they’re not looking for an ASL career, it gives them some credits for their foreign languages in college.”
With her college experience Bowen attended UVU, Salt Lake Community College(SLCC) and University of Utah (U of U). “I went to UVU and got my bachelor’s degree in deaf studies with an emphasis in interpreting. And then when I started teaching here I went to SLCC and took some teaching classes so I could eventually get licensed in teaching. Then I got a masters in education through U of U”
When it comes to teaching, Bowen just goes with the flow. This is her second year teaching Hope Squad. ̈Mr. Leavitt, (previous principal) it was his last year here as principal, I approached him about getting the college classes and he approached me about teaching Hope Squad. He mentioned there were several counselors and teachers that recommended me to take over when the last teacher left. I am very passionate about mental health and spreading awareness that there was not much hesitation there. I wanted to do it.”
Bowen loves more than just teaching and ASL, she loves boating, surfing and wakeboarding. “Being on the water in general, paddle boarding, whatever. “Bowen also loves to bake and sew. “I do a catering on the side with cakes and cupcakes and had a lot of success there. I love to do alterations, that’s what got me through college, paid for my college, I sewed and did alterations for weddings”
Bowen loves being a Hillcrest Husky.
