Drew Broussard, '14

In celebrating 20 years of ESA Lower School, we've been reaching out to ESA alumni who were some of our very first lower school students. Drew Broussard, '14, was a third grader when we opened the doors on the St. Barnabas campus. After ESA, Drew graduated from LSU Honors College and went on to earn a graduate degree from the University of Virginia. He has been with Oracle NetSuite since 2019, and works remotely as Senior Marketing Operations Program Manager. Drew and his wife Elizabeth married in 2022, and lived in Austin, Texas, before moving to her hometown of Baton Rouge.

"ESA gave me the confidence to be myself, empowering me as an individual," Drew says. "It did not matter the subject, my ESA teachers gave me the tools to look at situations with a unique and valuable perspective. This has served me so well in my young career!" He adds that as a marketing professional, he looks back on his Digital Design classes with Mrs. Graycheck and Mrs. Hernandez almost daily, and he's continually applying something he learned during his junior year independent study to his work today.

About his time at ESA Lower School, Drew says, "Even at Saint Barnabas, we learned, grew, and played 'beneath the oaks.' I can still recall my time as a third grader in Ms. Cindy Lasalle's class. Ms. Cindy, forever the scientist, would take us in the fields behind the school as we searched for interesting organisms to take back to the patchwork of butler buildings that served as our classrooms."

Drew's advice for current ESA students: "Take time at ESA to BE YOURSELF. When you graduate, your universe gets so much bigger. There is no better place for you to discover who you are as an individual than at ESA! It is an environment that is inspiring, nurturing, and accepting. Taking the time to understand YOU will pay dividends in the future." He goes on to say, "I met my dearest friends at ESA. I lean on my studies nearly every day. I learned how to become a leader beneath the oaks. ESA is 1 of 1!"