A passion for children led to a career change for Heather Bowers, who after spending 17 years as a nurse has spent the last 10 as an educator.
Bowers taught for three years with the Brownwood ISD and will be teaching third graders at Coggin Elementary for the 2025-26 school year.
“I knew that I loved to helped people and I really liked to take care of children, I adopted three children of my own and I saw how their teachers impacted their lives,” Bowers said in regard to her career change. “I wanted to help people in that way the teachers did, so I decided to go to school to become a teacher. I’ve been a teacher now for 10 years.”
Bowers further elaborated, stating, “I stayed home to take care of my girls for a few years. I decided to go back to school and in the process I was a substitute teacher at different schools. I really had an opportunity to get experience first hand in the classroom from subbing. Once I got my degree I started teaching and just fell in love with it.”
Regarding the decision to pursue teaching at the elementary school level, Bowers said, “I started out in first grade and pretty much moved my way up through the grades. I was able to follow one of my classes that started in first grade and I went to second grade with them. Then in 2021 I decided to get my Masters degree in Education in Advanced Literacy Instruction so that helped me to have more knowledge to help my students with their reading and make more of an impact on them. I’ve been able to to really help them that way.”
Before arriving in Brownwood, Bowers taught at Ralls ISD, and then in Lubbock.
Bowers attended grade school at Roseville Elementary in Roseville, Ohio and high school at Philo High School in Philo, Ohio. Reflecting on her school days and teaching influences, Bowers said, “One’s name was actually Mr. Bowers and he taught Science and Health in junior high grades. Then Ms. Myers, she was my Reading teacher.”
Bowers later attained a Bachelor’s degree at Wayland Baptist University in Plainview and then a Master’s degree at Concordia University in Austin.
The most rewarding aspect of teaching, according to Bowers, is “letting the students know I sincerely care about them, and establishing that repertoire with them and letting them know that they have someone in their lives that truly cares about them no matter what they go through or what kind of struggles they face. I’m going to be there to see them through everything. Once they realize that, they’ll do the hard work. When I see them making progress and getting through all the challenges and seeing that growth, that is just so rewarding to me. To be walking in a store and hear ‘Mrs. Bowers’ and have those students run up to me. Some of those students have had a lot of challenges and some have been through some tough situations, then when I hear their voice and how happy they are to see me then I know I’ve made a difference in their lives.”
Looking ahead to the future, Bowers finds excitement in, “Just continuing on and being that positive role model for kids through the years. Maybe seeing the kiddos that I taught when they were younger graduate and be successful. Every new year watching every class come in and be successful, I look forward to that and meeting new children and making a difference, along with me growing personally as an educator and doing better every single year.”
Heather and her husband Clay have been married three years and have two grown daughters and one that will be a freshman at Lubbock Christian University.
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BrownwoodNews.com will highlight one Brown County educator per day in the month of July, based on nominations received on our Facebook page, for our Teacher Feature series.