From Grief to Growth

Having faced challenges in her young life, Northampton Community College (NCC) student, Abigail Bauer, has already developed a strategy to deal with hardship. 

“Even if it seems very difficult, just keep going. Take it day by day, and you’ll get through it,” she says. 

In April 2022, about a month before Bauer graduated from high school, her father, Joseph Bauer, died suddenly in a tragic accident, leaving behind a wife and five children in Mount Bethel. 

“He had started a new job working nightshift,” Bauer said. “One night on the way to work, he fell asleep and crashed his Jeep. It was made more difficult by the fact that I was graduating. I didn’t know what I wanted to do, and I really wanted him there to help me figure it out. But I couldn’t talk to him.”  

Despite the heartbreaking situation, her mother, Heather Bauer, an NCC nursing student, recognized the value of a college degree and encouraged her daughter to go to college. Because money was tight, Bauer knew she would go to a community college. Initially, she attended another community college, starting in the fall of 2022, but struggled because she was still greatly missing her father.  

“It was a real shock to the system,” she says. “During the first few months, I had a hard time adjusting to him not being in the house. He was the funniest man I ever knew.” 

A good-hearted man, Bauer’s father liked to play guitar. She enjoyed singing along with him. He loved fishing in his small boat, and she would often accompany him. He was obsessed with the Alaskan Survivor show, Bauer says. 

Her grief made focusing on her studies challenging, but her professors offered little support.  

“At the other college, I felt like no one really took into consideration that I was still grieving. I was struggling to keep up with classes, and none of my teachers reached out for support. We were not even provided with a contact for student success.” 

After a year, she realized it wasn’t where she wanted to be, so she transferred to NCC and couldn’t be happier with her decision. 

“I've had a much better experience at NCC,” Bauer says. “This college has been much more welcoming and helpful. The professors seem to care more. I find the assignments thought-provoking, and I learn a lot more.”  

She also enjoyed her Research Methods Development class, which involved a lot of statistics. While it was challenging, she liked the way it was structured.  

Bauer has taken all her classes online. Since graduating from high school, she has moved to Blairstown, NJ, where she now lives with her boyfriend, Christopher. The online classes provide her with a flexible schedule, and as a result, she’s able to work to support herself while she attends. 

Although it hasn’t been long since she experienced great loss, she looks for the things in life that bring her joy. She spends time with her family, boyfriend, and friends from work. She is an animal lover and has a cat, Sage, and two dogs, Estelle and Skel. She finds solace in nature hikes with her dogs.  

Bauer’s on track to graduate this spring with a degree in psychology and plans to continue her education at another online college, such as Southern New Hampshire University. But she may take a semester off. Interested in human behavior, she hopes one day to work in the therapy field as a family or marriage counselor.