Hunter Bowden, one of the most well known students in Weedsport High School, not only for his amazing athletic abilities but for his tremendous academic excellence.When people think about Hunter, they think about him being the star quarterback, a great basketball player and a quality baseball player. However, Hunter exceeds academically just as much as he does on the field.

Hunter’s athletic legacy is already going to be great, but Hunter says, “I wanna be known for being a hard worker, for getting good grades, and being a pleasure to have in class.” This is what every kid wants to be known for, but Hunter has exceeded that by becoming Salutatorian when there were 18 other students that were just as worthy as him for getting this honor. Hunter were was very humble about winning the award in saying, “There are probably kids that are smarter and more worthy than me that could have gotten the award, so I guess it’s a little bit of luck and the hard work I put in over the years.”

As we know Hunter performed well in every sport that he has participated in, but it’s not that often that you see a student perform as well in the classroom as you do on the field. Bowden says, “ I might sound a little cocky but I pick up things pretty naturally so I didn’t have to study too much for test. You just gotta put in the work.”

Hunter has not been able do this by himself. Of all the teachers who had helped him along the way, his coach and health teacher John Sgarlata, stood out to him the most. Coach Sgarlata says,

“My best memory of Hunter,  also happens to be one of the worst experiences I have had as a teacher or coach so far in my career. When Hunter was hurt this year in the Cato game I knew he had a sense that it was serious and that his Senior year was over. I felt absolutely horrible for him because of the work that he put in going into his senior season. He was having an outstanding year and was leading all of Section 3 in mostly every passing statistic. Instead of Hunter feeling sorry for himself and pouting with an ice bag on his knee, he was doing everything in his power to be a leader for the team and encourage everyone to keep fighting especially the other quarterbacks that needed to play. It was one of the most unselfish and powerful acts of leadership I have ever seen. The time you need a leader the most is in the time of crisis and Hunter provided our team with reassurance, toughness, and the desire to keep pushing forward that no other person, including the coaching staff, could have done. He truly put the team before himself and I will always remember that extraordinary act of humility and selflessness.”

On Hunter in the classroom, Coach Sgarlata has even more positive comments. “Mostly it is the same things that made him successful in football. He has some natural gifts such as intelligence, memory, and problem solving ability but most of all he has tremendous work ethic. He grew up as a farmer and had old school values imposed upon him from his family. Hunter values the grind and the hard work required to succeed. He knows that highly successful people are rare in this world and only those that are willing to work hard can achieve their full potential. Hunter is smart but more importantly he is a work horse. He will never ever be out worked by anyone, because he truly values it.”

Hunter will be attending Rochester University next fall and will be playing football. Weedsport will always remember Hunter and everything he did for the school and we wish him the best of luck in his future.