“Karen” about BFA

Karen+about+BFA

Grace Bates, Writer

Karen Chesser’s day is not laid back in any sense. She is a busy woman, helping students with their careers, and getting them ready for post graduation.

Working only part time at  BFA, her days are very eventful and never dull.

“It’s totally random every day. I could be here all day at my computer making connections to the community. I could be out and about with job shadows that take the majority of my time. That’s just the tip of the iceberg,” Chesser said.

Before coming to BFA, Chesser was a guidance counselor for 13 years, and attended American International College in Springfield Massachusetts. She got her bachelors in psychology, with a minor in criminal justice and a master’s degree in school counseling.

Chesser knew that she wanted to work in the school system, and has a deep passion for her job, constantly wanting to help students.

“I like my job because I get to help kids at the high school level with their careers,” Chesser said.

Not only is Chesser hard working during the school hours at BFA, but outside she has created her own volleyball program.

“I built the entire volleyball program at Essex High School from start to finish. I retired last year. I started with two teams to six teams,” Chesser said.

Chesser is also working on creating a volleyball program here in Franklin County. She enjoys playing and coaching volleyball, and that takes up a large amount of her time outside of school.

Putting job shadows together for students at BFA, she firmly believes that they’re important and that people should take advantage of this opportunity.

“You want job shadows, because you want to figure out what you’re going to do in the future. We’re trying to cut back on spending money on education that isn’t going to go anywhere. You want something more meaningful,” Chesser said.

Besides volleyball  and working at BFA, Chesser enjoys traveling. Seeing new parts of the world is something that she likes to do.

“Personally I’ve traveled to Sweden twice, Germany once, I’ve been to Florida, obviously all down the east coast, all across the United States about five times traveled literally by car,” Chesser said.

She is an adventurous human being, and seeing new places excites her.

Adding on to her many travels, she is a military wife, so moving a lot has not been unfamiliar to her.

“I’ve traveled from North Carolina, I’ve been to New Hampshire in terms of like Military and then we went to Yuma, Arizona, and we went to L’amour, California. Those were are duty stations,” Chesser said.

Chesser is a very ambitious person, and is not afraid to try something new.

“I like to start and coordinate programs, hence the volleyball program you know from start to finish, or start to continue,” Chesser said.

Aside from her busy day at work, and coaching volleyball. Chesser has one daughter who is six years old, and her husband. They’ve currently built a new home, and are having fun decorating it to their liking.

“We’ve built our house, our dream house which is something we’ve always wanted, and it’s been great,” Chesser said.

The work never stops for Chesser, even during the summer. Though she has a cottage on Lake Champlain that she likes to spend her days at, she still wants to be active doing her favorite sport: volleyball.

“I have a cottage on Lake Champlain that I own, right on Coates Island in Colchester. I spend a lot of my time there. In the summers, when I was coaching I would be doing volleyball camps and clinics over the summer. This year I’m thinking about doing one here in Franklin County,” Chesser said.

Chesser has set goals ahead of her, and is ready to take on any task given to her.