Thornton Academy Alumni Magazine Fall 2021 Fall 2021 | Page 26

YOUNG ALUMNI TO WATCH

Recent Grads Make Their Military Dreams a Reality

Jake Lowe and Kylie Bedard prepare to start a new leg of their journeys at West Point and Annapolis.
ALUMNI
Recent graduates Jake Lowe’ 21 and Kylie Bedard’ 21 grew up together. Lowe’ s father, Jay’ 92, and Bedard’ s mother, Amy McDougal’ 91, are both Thornton graduates and their families are friends. Lowe and Bedard played together as children and eventually followed in their family tradition to become Thornton students together. But now they have a rivalry. An Army- Navy rivalry.
Last summer Bedard was officially inducted into the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, and Lowe became a part of the new class at the United States Military Academy at West Point.
give me,” said Bedard, who plans to compete in track and field for the Annapolis Midshipmen.
For Lowe, receiving the appointment to West Point was a natural step forward after being exceptionally active in the Thornton community as a member of the football, baseball, basketball and unified basketball teams, as well as participating in the Community Leaders Club, the Anglers Society, National Honor Society and Student Council as student body president. To round it out, he served as the student representative for the Thornton Academy alumni board his senior year.
the stress was high. It has been so nice to have one of my best friends to go through this process with, and we have been able to share our successes together.”
Jake Lowe, Echo Company 1st Regiment, in uniform.
Kylie Bedard signs her National Letter of Intent for Track and Field with the US Naval Academy in Annapolis.
“ I first gained interest in attending the Naval Academy my sophomore year when I was being recruited for track and field and immediately started exploring the amazing opportunity attending the Naval Academy would
Academy students must be nominated by members of the state’ s congressional delegation. Bedard was nominated by Sens. Angus King and Susan Collins. Lowe was also nominated King and Collins, as well as U. S. Rep. Chellie Pingree. Having been through so many similar experiences, they found support from each other through the application process.
“ Jake and I talk all the time,” Bedard said.“ Since West Point and Navy are rivals, we always jokingly butt heads, but we have helped each other so much through the process and have been able to bounce ideas off each other and gave each other motivation to keep going and push forward when
“ Even though we ' re both wearing different shirts and we ' re both going to be rooting for different teams in the Army-Navy game, we ' re on the same team and I’ m looking forward to serving with her in the future, no matter the side- the brand we serve on,” Lowe said.
Bedard spoke for both of the graduates when she expressed her excitement at the new chapter they are each opening.
“ I am so excited to embark on this journey of service, leadership, and commitment,” she said.“ As always, Go Navy, Beat Army!” But not if Lowe has anything to say about it.
14 Story by Joyce Doyle · Photos courtesy of the Lowe and Bedard families, and TA Archives