GONZALES, La. (WAFB) – Ascension Christian High School and the surrounding community are mourning the sudden loss of Principal Dustin Bagwell. He was only 50 years old when he passed away on the evening of August 27th.
Superintendent Mark Pellegrin says he leaves a huge void not only at the high school, but in the entire community. Pellegrin says his ability to connect with each individual student is something you don’t see in every educator.
“In some ways, he leaves us empty-handed because he invested so much in our students, in our faculty, in our community. I think Ascension Parish lost a great educator today,” Pellegrin says.
Rohan Davey, former LSU quarterback and current football coach at Ascension Christian High School, says Dustin Bagwell was the only reason he came to the small school of a few hundred students. Davey says Bagwell was a visionary and had such a passion for the school and the success of its students and staff that it was contagious. Bagwell was a social studies teacher when he started 7 years ago, but Davey says he has continued to teach and guide students and staff throughout his time as principal.
“Patience with the kids, patience with yourself, forbearance, forbearance with yourself when you feel like you’re not doing your job as well as you want to, that you’re not treating the kids the way you want to,” Davey says. “All of that was very important to him, he put a lot of emphasis on second chances, on encouraging the kids, on encouraging the staff to support themselves and make sure we were doing well.”
Davey says Bagwell showed the same enthusiasm and passion he did for growing the athletic departments, but more importantly, he made sure he could help students achieve their goals. Davey says that’s just one of the reasons he and Bagwell got along so well. Davey says he will continue to bring the same passion and energy to carry on Bagwell’s legacy.
Mark Pellegrin says Dustin Bagwell taught everyone he met a lesson. That lesson was how to live your life to the best of his ability and to focus on the positive side of things instead of focusing on the negative. Pellegrin says Bagwell had a very thankless job at times, but he did it with a smile on his face. He says they now have a responsibility to pick up where Bagwell left off and live up to his legacy as well.
“He enjoyed every minute and couldn’t live any other way. He knew he was called to do this, and I think because he loved it so much, maybe today he thought, ‘My work is done, and I did it well,’ as he left. And I pray that’s what God said when he went to heaven today,” Pellegrin says.
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