Western librarian promotes passion for traveling
By Adrian Alaniz and Esmeralda Espitia The Western Express
From his mid-20s William Bowles, the librarian at Western International High School, spends days away from school traveling to exotic locales, such as Egypt, Switzerland, South America, Central America, Turkey, Nigeria and Japan.
Bowles is a generous and thoughtful guy who everyone should get the chance to know. Aside from everything he has done to help students with their learning skills, Bowles has an amazing passion for traveling and uses those experiences of traveling and learning about many diverse cultures to teach the students at Western International.
Most recently, Bowles traveled to the Southern U.S. to learn about segregation and slavery during the Civil War. On his two-week trip to Tennessee, Georgia and South Carolina, he had an impactful experience about the human suffering that resulted from slavery.
“Traveling is one of the best learning experiences one can have,” Bowles said. Aside from his passion for traveling, Bowles loves reading and helping students with their writing and learning skills. He also inspires students to travel.
“If I can, so can you,” said Bowles. There are many ways to travel, such as reading a book that lead you into whole different dimension, Bowles said.
For the past 30 years, Bowles has been exploring and traveling the world and experiencing new cultures country to country. Even at his young middle-age, he still enjoys and continues to explore the many amazing places in this world.
One of Bowles’ most memorable trips was to Nigeria, where he lived for a year in a city called Ile-ife. He studied the Yoruba civilization and was welcomed into the Nigerians’ lives and they freely shared their ways of life. This created in him a deep sense of gratitude for family and friends. He later returned back from his trip to Western, where he then taught students about African life that he learned in Nigeria and his life while on his trip.
Before becoming a librarian, Bowles was a French and English teacher. He would always pass by the second floor’s hallway and see a beautiful library at Western and it motivated him to be a librarian. He applied for the position to be a librarian and he qualified.
He also sponsors the Literary and Art magazine at Western where students can submit writing or art work. Bowles also submits stories of Western students’ achievements to El Central, a newspaper in Southwest Detroit.
