Ever since she was a high school student, Esper Bausenwein has had a talent for uplifting others.
And she plans to put that talent to good use as a social worker. Esper is a first generation college student currently attending SUNY Broome with plans to pursue a bachelor’s degree in social work at Binghamton University.
It’s a career path heavily inspired by LPP academic counselor, Shane Baron.
Esper has been heavily involved in LPP ever since she first joined as a junior at Chenango Forks High School. During her time as a student in the program, Esper became a fixture of the LPP community known for offering both academic and emotional support.
As an LPP alumna, she helped to supervise activities like hikes, art therapy, field trips to the zoo, and mural painting during LPP’s last summer program. She also toured SUNY Oneonta with her LPP peers.
But she says she learns the most from observing the way Shane Baron makes connections in the classroom. Esper still regularly returns to his classroom at Chenango Forks – but now it’s to job shadow Shane.
“He’s great at what he’s doing. Has great connection with students,” Esper said.
Esper’s family first moved to Broome County from Buffalo, NY when Esper was 13 years old. She eventually started attending Chenango Forks High School, but her first two years were mainly remote due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
She first learned about LPP during a school pep rally, which was held when in-person classes and activities resumed her junior year. The fact that the program was based out of Binghamton University – where she wanted to go to college – stuck out to her immediately.
She went up to Shane after the pep rally, and he invited her to talk at length in his classroom the following week. Esper recalls how that discussion lasted a little longer than a period and was “pretty personal” to her.
“Since then, I have been really, really, really involved in the program,” she said.
From the beginning, she appreciated that LPP wasn’t based in the school office, which might’ve felt stigmatizing. Instead, Shane had his own classroom that was accessible and open to anyone who wanted to go there.
One of the things Esper enjoyed the most about LPP was having access to a space that was quieter and calmer than the rest of the school. Shane’s ability to connect and joke around with students while maintaining an appropriate dynamic also made socializing easier.
“He was very casual to students but knew how to hold professionalism,” Esper said.
Another source of inspiration was Shane’s willingness to talk about his mental health. Esper said he would tell his students when he was feeling anxious, in an effort to set a good example and show them that they can get through things when they feel anxious.
In her senior year, Esper had the opportunity to explore teaching as a career path through a program at her school. She found that, while she loved working with students, she didn’t feel that teaching would allow her to make the kinds of connections she wanted to make.
“I really respect and value having relationships with students because I think that you can’t really do anything with a student if you don’t have a preexisting connection with them,” she said.
She aspires to work in a role where she can teach students life skills like goal setting, breathing exercises, and stress management. She also strives to give students a safe space, where she can connect them with resources and build one-on-one relationships.
Esper was even able to make a difference for one of her classmates before she graduated. She described how a student in their first year of high school came up to her specifically to talk about a difficult situation they were going through.
“I talked with the student and then I brought the student up to the principal and was like ‘hey is there anything we can do about this issue?’ and kind of just helped coach them through that,” she said.
Her dedication to helping others was even recognized at graduation with an award given to a student who uplifts other students.
She said she doesn’t have one single favorite memory of LPP. But she does have a favorite part: “The feeling of being in the room and just being able to relax.”