When the plane reached 13,500 feet, Liz Bowman ’99 jumped out.  She recalls that first jump, shortly after graduation: “I felt like I was floating. I felt so free.” The moment she slid into the grass, the first words out of her mouth were “I want to go again -- right now!”

For Bowman, skydiving has become more than a hobby.  It is a lifetime passion.

Bowman was especially intrigued by the role of the video photographer who taped her first jump. Combined with the sheer adrenaline rush, she sought to meld her love of video production and screenwriting with skydiving escapades.
She began training to jump alone, acquiring an A license, and was soon purchasing her own gear. “I became a United States Parachute Association certified coach and started training other jump students on group freefall skills,” says Bowman.

At this point, Bowman began to focus on free flying, in which skydivers “fly on all axes on [their] body – in a sitting position, on our heads, doing cartwheels, flips, whatever,” she says. “We turn the sky into a multidimensional playground. We aren’t just falling; we are flying our bodies.”

Next, Bowman decided to strap a video camera to her helmet. She began to use the footage she was gathering to make short movies. She also teamed up with a jumping partner, Shonda Smith, to form a free-fly team. They are training in hopes of entering competitions soon. Meanwhile, her photography can be sampled at here.
Commenting on her time at St. Lawrence, Bowman says “It really set me up to get where I am today”: manager of a design and development team, specializing in gaming and computer training. An English major with a writing concentration, she was able to develop her screenwriting talents. “I would certainly relate my love of screenwriting and video production, which I developed at SLU, to my reason for digging deep into jumping,” says Bowman.