Video: Luke Bowers' highlights vs. White House High School
See this week's Honor Roll winner in action earlier in the season.Luke Bowers returned home from a mission trip to Nicaragua a changed young man. It really put everything in his life into perspective.
Bowers and his family traveled to Jinotega and the surrounding areas with a youth group from Westgate Church of Christ in Dothan, Ala., and partnered with Mision Para Cristo. Bowers, who lives in Franklin, Tenn., had a connection to the church and accompanied the group for five days last July.
"The teens participated daily in projects requiring them to get out of their comfort zone and interact with the locals in Nicaragua," Bowers' mom, Laura Bowers said.
Bowers appreciated the little things on his trip to
Central America.
Courtesy photo
On the first day in Nicaragua, Bowers helped build a church, mixing cement and building rebar. The next day, they painted a different church in the area. The following two days, Bowers helped out at church schools, working mostly with kindergartners through fifth-graders.
"We went and read books to them, played outside and just had a good time with them," Bowers said. "I was sitting there reading with them and they were reading along with me in Spanish, so I was having a little bit of a hard time. But they were all laughing and we were just having a good time."
The best part of the entire experience?
"When we went outside," Bowers said. "All the boys got together with the young boys and played a game of Wiffle Ball. That was probably my favorite thing."
Being able to spend five days in Nicaragua helping out the community was a humbling experience for Bowers.
"It made me feel really good -- I loved it," he said. "It was a big, eye-opening experience for me. It helped me appreciate what I have here in the United States."
Bowers enjoys community service work and he spent a big part of his summer volunteering. Now that the 15-year-old is back in school, he is plenty busy as a sophomore at
Page (Franklin, Tenn.), where he earned a starting nod this season as an outside linebacker on the varsity football team. To win the starting spot early in camp as an underclassman says a lot about Bowers.
Page football coach Charles Rathbone liked the way Bowers played hard consistently and with a lot of energy.
"He jumped in front of a couple seniors that we thought would be playing that position," Rathbone said. "When he got in there he showed a toughness and a physicality that you want at your linebacker position."
Rathbone used Bowers at weak-side linebacker in his 4-2-5 base defense. Bowers was able to be an effective run stopper, but was also called upon in pass coverage against larger tight ends.
"I set the edge whenever they do sweeps and then the inside linebacker next to me will come up and fill the gap, and if he runs up that gap he's stopped by the inside linebacker and if he goes outside, I've got him," Bowers said.
Bowers is just 5-foot-9, 165 pounds, but he plays a lot bigger, his coach said.
Outside linebacker suits Bowers because of his
tenacity - not his size.
Courtesy photo
"He has very little fat on him and he knows how to play with leverage," Rathbone said. "I think some of the best linebackers in NFL history have been 5-9, 5-10. ... It's a position where you can play where you're a little bit smaller if you've got that drive."
Bowers definitely has the drive to succeed. He was a difference maker on the Patriots' defense this season. Bowers helped the team advance to the second round of the playoffs for the first time in nearly two decades and was second in the region in tackles with 68 (22 solo, 46 assisted). Bowers is also a baseball player at Page, competing at the junior varsity level.
Bowers found out quickly he had to change his habits in the classroom after registering a 2.75 GPA his freshman year.
"Last year, I guess I didn't realize that school had a big impact on where I could play, but this year I realized that if I'm going to play at the next level I'm going to have to get my grades up," Bowers said. "That just pushed me to improve my grades and study a lot more."
Bowers recorded all A's and B's in the first quarter and tallied a 3.25 GPA to bump up his overall GPA. He's now very serious in the classroom and he's also very serious about continuing community service work.
"He's very active," Rathbone said. "We ask that our players put in a lot of community service."
Bowers spent some time last summer with the Churches of Christ Disaster Relief. Through his church in Millview, Bowers traveled to Nashville to pack boxes of emergency food, water, cleaning and other supplies for victims of natural disasters. He also assisted in loading the boxes onto trucks for delivery.
"It really opened up my eyes and I realized that people around the country are being affected a lot, and we just need to help out as much as we can," Bowers said.
Bowers has also helped out the Page football team with unloading thousands of pumpkins in connection with The Cooper Trooper Foundation. The foundation helps siblings of those affected by cancer and care kits are sent to the kids. He also loves volunteering for an annual free, three-day N-3D football camp hosted by the Page football team. Varsity players work with 7- to 9-year-olds and teach them all about the game.
Last summer, Bowers logged about 50-60 volunteer hours, including that time in Nicaragua.
"I loved that experience going down there," Bowers said. "I hope to go back again sometime soon."
Bowers wasn't able to speak much Spanish, but he still connected with kids on his trip to Nicaragua.
Courtesy photo
