Seaforth High School in Chatham County is hosting Orange High School’s women’s tennis team for a matchup Wednesday afternoon. While the action on the court will be exciting, there’s a story that will unfold in the stands as well.
When Charlotte Bowman arrived at Seaforth High School during only its third year, she thought running for a leadership position would be a good way to get to know her peers. Even now as a senior and student body president, she wants to build up its school spirit and sense of community.
“I just always liked student council,” Bowman says. “I actually joined it in middle school, because I just thought it’d be a cool opportunity to create events for everyone and make my classmates happier. So then, in high school, I started freshman year as class president – because there wasn’t much interest in student council, so I had a feeling I could get that role. And since then, no one has really [run] for president…so I’ve kind of had my path formed. But I really like it a lot.”
When she found out that she was likely to be elected student body president, Bowman got a text from her grandmother, Mary, that surprised her.
“I said, ‘Oh, Charlotte, I was student body president too,” the elder Bowman recalls.
Exactly 60 years prior, Mary Bowman – then Mary Taylor – also led her peers at a burgeoning new school. A Hillsborough native, she joined Orange High School the year after it opened and became part of just its second graduating class in 1967.
“When you first walked in the door,” Bowman remembers of the school, “it had a huge lobby area [with] a tall ceiling, and it was just really big. We all got to meet in there at the beginning of school, and a lot of general meetings happened in that lobby. And that is what would hit you when you walked in. We would go, ‘Wow,’… it was just so nice.”
Yearbook photos of Mary Bowman, class of 1967. From left to right: Bowman in her cheerleading outfit, her senior portrait, and speaking as Student Body President. (Photos via Mary Bowman.)
Bowman realized she enjoyed being a student leader from her time captaining the junior high cheerleading squad. As she entered high school, she ran for and won the roles of treasurer, vice president, and president in consecutive years.
Serving as its student body president so close to Orange High’s opening meant that Bowman played a big role in shaping the student experience. Her team helped revise the school’s student handbook, plan fundraisers, and craft charters for clubs on the newer campus. It was even her peers who took a vote on the school mascot, the Panthers, which remains for Orange High today.
“Of course, I was a cheerleader all the way up through 12th grade, and head cheerleader also,” Bowman says. “But we did not have tennis – there were not a lot of sports for the girls, except for cheerleading and girls’ basketball.
“I probably would have played,” she adds, “but actually, I did not start playing tennis until 1973.”
Charlotte Bowman and Mary Bowman today. (Photos via the Bowman family.)
Mary moved to Fayetteville around that time because her husband, Gil, landed a job at Terry Sanford High School as the German teacher – and he was asked to also be the tennis coach. She learned the sport alongside him, eventually joining the local tennis and swimming club and captaining its USTA tennis teams.
Two generations later, tennis is still a family affair for the Bowmans. Thanks to their parents and grandparents’ backgrounds, many members of the family still play recreationally with Charlotte and her cousin Camden – who is also a student body president for her Charlotte-area school – captaining their respective high school teams.
And both Bowmans share similar sentiments about why they love playing the sport.
“It was the people, the friends I made,” Mary says. “We just went out there and had such a good time. And they are lifelong friends…they really are.”
“You get to play and meet a lot of different people in the school that you wouldn’t really talk to [otherwise],” says Charlotte. “And I like to socialize, so that’s great.”
Charlotte Bowman playing on the Seaforth High School tennis team. (Photo via Charlotte Bowman.)
With so many parallels and connections between the two, what do they admire the most about each other?
“I think it’s great how cheerful she is and how much she remembers about all four of us grandkids,” Charlotte says of her Nana. “She always just wants us to get us all together and connected.
“You can definitely tell she was a cheerleader,” she adds, “because she is very peppy and she is down to do just about anything.”
“Charlotte is going to get things done,” Mary says of her granddaughter. “And she wants to do anything that she can to help the community [and] help people around her. That’s the leader part of her…she’s just got a good heart.”
On Wednesday, Mary Bowman’s alma mater will face off with her granddaughter’s team – and it will be the first time Mary’s been able to make a trip from Fayetteville to watch Charlotte play. Because of that, it’s an easy decision: Mary said she’ll be cheering for her granddaughter and the Seaforth Hawks to beat Orange High.
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