“What do you need to know? Cause I’ve got a lot to say,” Madison Vines said during a recent interview. Madison, salutatorian of the graduating class at Patagonia High School, is graduating with a 4.22 GPA. She is the daughter of Denise and the late Brent Bowdon and Don Vines.
She is a self-assured, outgoing young woman who is working towards the goal of becoming a nurse. She has been accepted into the pre-nursing program at the U of A and has received the Wildcat Distinction Award in recognition of her achievements and potential. Her goal is to become a travelling nurse, specializing in either pediatric or labor and delivery nursing. This summer she plans to complete a course to become certified as an EMT.
In high school Madison has played varsity volleyball and basketball and has been in the FFA for all four years. She was a member of 4-H for nine years, showing swine and rabbits, and participating in cooking, photography and sewing projects. Madison has volunteered at town cleanups, the Patagonia Volunteer Fire Dept. steak fries, and Patagonia Cemetery clean-up events. In her free time, she likes to ride ATVS. “I like to go fast and get all dusty,” she said.
She is a member of the National Honor Society and was the winner of this year’s Patagonia Regional Times student poetry contest. English has been her favorite subject. “I always feel safe in English class,” she said.
“The best thing about PUHS is it’s small, but that’s also the worst thing about this school,” she said. “We are always there for each other, but everybody knows everything about everybody.” She is excited to move to Tucson next fall and to be living on her own.
“The people I’m probably most grateful for are my mom and my brother, and Brent, because he pushed me so much. I’m grateful for Mr. Young because when Brent died, he helped me through a lot, and for Mrs. Hayes.”
“It has been an honor to watch Madison grow from a little girl to the graduate she is today,” Michael Young, Patagonia School Assistant Principal, said. “She has always illustrated a passion for learning. Seeing her work outside the school in the show ring of 4-H or FFA, to the sports she participated in, she would always drive with dignity and sportsmanship. Madison is one that always wears a smile, and I assure you her dreams will take her to the corners of her smiles and the highest of her hopes.”