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Molly Bowie Cook Named 2025 Alumna of the Year

Congratulations to Molly Bowie Cook who was named the 2025 Alumna of the Year at Taste & Tunes on Friday, April 5. The Distinguished Alumni Award recognizes Harding Academy graduates who have enhanced the reputation of Harding Academy through their professional and community leadership and their advancement of Harding Academy’s mission.

Read the Script Honoring Molly Bowie Cook

Our Distinguished Alumna of the Year for 2025 began her journey at Harding Academy in kindergarten with her mom, Miss Pat, as her teacher. She continued at Harding Academy until graduation in 1978. One of her favorite school highlights was being asked by theatre director Ken Cox to audition for the musical Fiddler on the Roof. Although she had never acted before, she landed the lead female role. She was a leader not only on the stage but in the classroom as well, which was evidenced by her being named Ms. Harding.

She earned her Bachelors in Education from the University of Memphis and began teaching at the Harding Academy Woodale location. She taught 5K there for seven years before moving to the main campus where she served for another 11 years. While on the main campus, she taught middle school art and Bible and was the senior class sponsor for several years. Since many of her Woodale students also moved on to the main campus, she was blessed to teach and mentor many of them throughout their entire time at Harding Academy.

She was a lover of fine arts and began the Student Art Show, one of our most popular events to this day. She also created a high school a cappella group called Majesty that sang and performed spiritual songs.

Working hard to persuade her father, Dr. Bowie, she was an initial driving force in the creation of Little Harding. In fact, she and a colleague, Annette Jeter, came up with the name! The first summer of the preschool, she worked tirelessly to prepare and even hand painted playful stencils in all the classrooms. Her son Jordan was in the inaugural 3-year-old class.

After her years of service at Harding Academy, she transitioned to Lausanne Collegiate School where she was admissions director for 14 years. In 2013, she joined the Bowie Reading and Learning Center where she has been Head of Tutorial Programs for the past 12 years. During that time, she has been able to help many Harding students which is something she especially loves.

When asked to share some personal thoughts about this year’s recipient, her husband said, “Other than I think she’s awesome? She is a very energetic person who likes to be innovating and changing things. She is very much like her father in that respect.”

She has been married to Rick for almost 45 years, and they are proud parents to three children (Brand, Jordan, and Michael) and three grandchildren, two of whom attend Harding Academy.

It is my pleasure to introduce the recipient of our 2025 Distinguished Alumna Award, Mrs. Molly Bowie Cook.