DAILY NEWS PEOPLE MICHAEL BOWLER.

Byline: - Mike Chmielecki

``Some people are able to see someone in need, and turn away from that,'' says Michael Bowler, the 2000 National Big Brother of the Year. ``I'm not good at that.''

Bowler has been helping kids for close to 17 years - at the Westchester YMCA weight room; at school as a teacher; as a volunteer at Nidorf Juvenile Hall in Sylmar; and as a Big Brother in the Deaf/Hard-of-Hearing Program (since he's hard of hearing himself).

``Most people think kids are out of control, but they won't do anything about it,'' Bowler says of his involvement. ``People need to understand, if they reach out to one of those kids in need, they will change that child, and be contributing to their own children, too. Because those so-called bad kids will be running the country alongside their own.''

AGE: 43.

RESIDENCE: Chatsworth.

BORN AND RAISED IN: Born in San Francisco, raised in San Rafael.

MARITAL STATUS: Single.

CHILDREN: ``I have a lot of them, but not the biological kind.''

OCCUPATION: Special education teacher at Hawthorne High School for 12 years, and has taught in the Centinela Valley Union High School District for 14.

Before Bowler became a special education teacher, he taught English. A death in the family forced him to take some time off. When he came back, he found himself teaching a number of special education classes as a substitute teacher.

``I decided I liked those classes,'' he says. ``The numbers were smaller, so I could work with the kids on a one-on-one basis.'' He went back to school and received the credential needed to teach special education full-time.

VOLUNTEERISM: Besides being a Big Brother through the Catholic Big Brothers of Los Angeles for the past 17 years, Bowler has been `'a sort of unofficial volunteer'' almost as long, in the weight room at the Westchester YMCA near Los Angeles International Airport. He says kids will come up to him, work out with him and tell him things he doubts their parents hear.

He also visits kids at Nidorf Juvenile Hall through the Archdiocese of Los Angeles' Detention Ministry Program, where he sees a lot of overlap between the people he meets in school and those he eventually meets there.

``People tend to think of those kids as being evil, and oh, we should get rid of them. But when people meet them, they see they're just regular kids. They have the same problems and needs, and emotionally need a lot of attention and good, positive examples.''

HOW DID YOU GET INVOLVED?: ``I knew there was a big need. Even when I was working out at the gym, kids would keep coming up and talking to me, asking me how to do things with the weights. I could see they wanted interaction with a male.''

WHY DO YOU VOLUNTEER?: ``You'll realize these kids just want to be around a man that cares about them. These kids just want to hang out with you. And I'll bet you'd sometimes feel more appreciated by that kid than your own. It's a wonderful feeling to be appreciated for who you are.''

FAVORITE ACTIVITIES/HOBBIES: Since one of Bowler's master's degrees is in film and production, he spends much of his free time working on low-budget films with friends, writing screenplays for contests and selling a few of his films via the Internet. He also enjoys lifting weights.

HOW DO YOU DEFINE SUCCESS?: ``Doing your best. Treating people decently, properly and responsibly.''

GOALS FOR THE FUTURE: Bowler would like to get some screenplays written that have a chance of making it outside his Internet site. He also wants to publish a few books and start a placement home for kids who come out of the probation/detention system.

``And certainly, I'd like to get married. That's if I can find a woman who can put up with me and the kids. I would like to have kids of my own, too.''

Michael Bowler was recommended by Catholic Big Brothers of Los Angeles. For more information on volunteering there, call [phone] or [phone] (TTY).

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Photo:

Mike Bowler, left, visits in the Oval Office with President Clinton and three of his four Little Brothers, from second left, Edgar, David, and Matthew.