Achievement
Rosa Bowman of Ashdown heads state association.
THIS YEAR’S PRESIDENT of the Arkansas School Boards Association is Rosa Bowman, a member of the Ashdown School Board. ASBA is a nonprofit, membership organization that provides leadership, training and advocacy to state school boards.
Rosa has been a member of Ashdown Public School District’s board since 2006. As part of her new duties, she traveled to Washington, D.C. to represent ASBA and meet with national legislators from Arkansas.
Rosa is the first Hispanic woman to hold this position, but said that’s not what made the achievement special to her.
“I want to succeed in this position because I am grateful to God for the opportunity, not just because I am a woman or Hispanic,” she said. “But I am proud to serve and let other women and Hispanics know that they can serve. Nothing should be an obstacle for the things we desire to do. My mom always taught me to be the best I could be and to always learn.”
Rosa’s home country is Peru, which is where her love for learning and teaching grew. She moved to the United States when she was 16, and has been passionate about education ever since.
“Education is very important to me, and once I became a teacher I always wanted to be the teacher that made a child always feel special so they could learn,” she said. “From third to sixth grade in Peru, I attended a school where American students attended and where only English was spoken. And I didn’t know any, so it was difficult.”
She graduated in 1971 from Box Elder High School in Brigham City, Utah, and attended college in that state. She then got married, and shortly after the birth of a daughter, she took a job teaching Spanish at Brown
Junior High in Ashdown. Rosa taught until 2004, when she made the decision to quit teaching in the school system so she could run for the Ashdown School Board. She began serving two years later.
She has served in various offices at the state level as she progressed, and currently holds the office of secretary on the Ashdown Board.
Rosa said she enjoys her time on the board, even though she’s not teaching.
“I was so excited to be elected and able to serve on the board,” she said. “I love Ashdown, it is a great place to live and no other place I have lived measures up. It is a safe place for our kids and everyone is always so nice and friendly. Our teachers and staff here at Ashdown are always working to do the best for all our students and provide them the best opportunities possible.”
Rosa said she looks forward to providing those same opportunities for students as ASBA president.
“It makes me very emotional,” she said. “I am so honored to serve and to have the opportunity to help students be the best they can be, whether they are going to college or to the workforce after graduation. I am very humbled to be a part of the students’ future … It gives me a sense of pride, not in a boastful way, but that I have made something of myself. I have a passion to teach and if given the opportunity, I would until I’m 100 years old.”