BY RYAN O’CONNOR

The theme of the day was “Bow High School: Past, Present and Future.”

The concept was fitting, because in attendance at Bow High School’s 10th anniversary celebration on June 9 were community members, school board members, faculty, students and alumni.

Some were visionaries who helped create the school; others were innovators who molded the school over the last decade; and others still were those committed to its continued excellence for years to come.

Two people representing Bow High School’s past were former principal George Edwards, who left Bow last year, and former school board member and building committee Chairman Marie McMillen.

Also present  were first-year principal John House-Myers and school board members Anne Baier and Pansy Bloomfield, the current chairman, all parts of the school’s future as well.

But the students, said senior Katie Seraikas, are the heart of the school, which she displayed by inviting freshman Lori Zibel to represent the future and Jess Kaufman to represent Bow High School’s past.

Seraikas, of course, represented the present.

Kaufman was in the first class to attend all four year’s at the school. She graduated in 2001.

She spoke of the various academic and athletic achievements accomplished by the school in only a decade.

“As Bow enters its 10th year, my message to the students is to continue to create memories and traditions as they will serve you well long after you leave this campus,” said Kaufman.

Seraikas said she came up with the idea to hold a celebration for Bow High School’s 10th anniversary from House-Myers, who she said suggested it to the student senate at the beginning of the school year.

After the idea failed to take off, she adopted it as her senior project.

“We talked about it, but we didn’t really do anything, so I decided to take it on as a personal project,”
Seraikas said. “I knew it wasn’t going to be a project that changed my life forever, like when others do a project that’s really meaningful to them, but it was a good opportunity for me to challenge myself, personally, in leading a group of adults, something I’m not comfortable with.”

In addition to speeches and a cake cutting ceremony, there was a tree planting ceremony the day before, which House-Myers said is an obvious metaphor for Bow High School’s continued growth.