3 Things to Know: Adonica Pelichet Duggan

CEO, Baton Rouge Alliance for Students

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Adonica Pelichet Duggan comes from a family of educators, which inspired her to pursue a career in education as well. Duggan, born and raised in Baton Rouge, earned her bachelor’s from LSU’s Manship School of Mass Communication before joining the Zachary Community School District in 2003 as its communications coordinator. Working with a small, nascent school system gave Duggan a non-siloed experience in seeing how a school system works and how decisions impact resource allocation. “I use my skills in communication to support the work that I think is so important. Quality of life starts with educating our children well.”

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Duggan stayed with the Zachary Community School System for more than a decade, leaving in 2015 after serving as supervisor of technology and communications the last three years. “I started asking myself then, if I were a parent, what would I need to know to feel empowered to make informed decisions about my child? Children and parents are the end consumer of the product we provide.” She then went to work for the neighboring East Baton Rouge Parish School System for two years before taking a position with local educational nonprofit New Schools for Baton Rouge.

FAVORITE THINGS:

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Triathlons

“I train for triathlons with my girlfriends—I go to the pool, bike with friends or clear my mind with a run.”

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“Our family has a beach house in Florida, and the memories I’ve made with my children make that my favorite spot.”

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Duggan left New Schools of Baton Rouge to launch the Baton Rouge Alliance for Students in March 2021. “We see our work as more broad than schools alone acting as the agent of change. There’s a missing gap on how we encourage and empower the roles that schools play and how to support them better.” In the future, the mom of four aims to increase community awareness for issues impacting Baton Rouge-area schools. “We have an opportunity in the next few years to decide the trajectory of the city, and we’ll either get it right or we won’t. I want people to understand the changes [made in education] and be energized by them.”

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Gin and tonic

“I’m a Hendrick’s-andtonic drinker.”

COLLIN RICHIE

Cocha

“It’s an opportunity to have a great meal but also get business done.”

Sweets

“Sugar is my weakness. The way to my heart is with a chocolate chip cookie.”