Shunte Dugar: Middle school principal has a passion for helping kids

Dec. 11—A passion for helping children led Shunte Dugar to her career path.

Dugar is the principal at New Ellenton STEAM Middle School, a position she has held since 2013. But education is a second career for her. She started working for 30901 Development Corporation in Augusta, Georgia.

" We were revitalizing dilapidated communities in the 30901 area," Dugar said. "Part of it was helping families become financially self sufficient with the education and empowering them."

She said she dealt with families in all stages of life to prepare them for independence. "We wrote grants, multimillion dollar grants, they built housing for the community," she said. "It also had, another aspect of it where they had a food pantry and it also had a clinic, a medical clinic as well."

She worked with children and said parents started trusting her and asking her to come to schools and help them with IEP meetings. She then went back to school to get her masters in school counseling.

"(I) haven't looked back since," Dugar said.

In 2007, she began her education career at New Ellenton, where she stayed for two years. At Jackson Middle School, she worked as a guidance counselor for one year. She then became an assistant principal at Paul Knox Middle School. Dugar stayed at PKMS until 2013 when she returned to New Ellenton as principal.

"I wanted to be able to affect more change," Dugar said of why she entered administration. "I always wanted, in working with students wanted to be able to offer kids opportunities, be able to create an environment where they had a strong sense of belonging where they felt welcomed and where they all were pushed to achieve at high levels. I just always wanted to be able to create that environment with little restrictions. So, what better way than being principal? I just strive to do that and it's been a great journey."

An increase in students and staff are among the changes Dugar has seen returning to New Ellenton.

"When I first started here we were at like 161, we were low," Dugar said. "The whole push was to get our numbers, our enrollment up, but we are a rural school. We're a small community."

Dugar is also proud that New Ellenton is a "high achieving" school with a focus on science, technology, engineering, art and math, she said. People ask her about the school, which has been a school of excellence for the past few years.

"We're a top 15 in the state, we've earned an excellent rating on our 2018 and 2019 school report cards and hopefully we're looking forward to staying at that level this year in 2022," Dugar said. The school did earn an excellent rating for the 2021-2022 school year.

Phyllis Gamble, the assistant superintendent of middle schools, has known Dugar for many years. She worked with her as a colleague for several years before becoming her supervisor.

"I think she's a fabulous leader," Gamble said. "She's a great principal. She has one of the higher achieving middle schools in Aiken county consistently. I think she is great at molding leaders or helping assistant principals to become great leaders."

Dugar was recognized for all of her hard work last year when she was named the 2022-2023 Principal of the Year.

"It was a great feeling" Dugar said. "It's always great being recognized for your hard work, being recognized for the accolades. Not only, it's not a point of pride for me, but for the teachers and students as well. Just sharing that limelight with everybody."

Although she had been on the Principal of the Year honor court for three years in a row, she was still surprised when she won the award.

"It's not like I thought it was my turn or anything like that. But you never know. So of course I was very surprised," Dugar said.

Denise McCray, the principal at Aiken Intermediate, has known Dugar since she started with ACPSD. She described Dugar as someone who is always willing to help.

"I remember when I started at a new principal, I was at Schofield and now I'm at Aiken Intermediate, she immediately offered to help me as a brand new principal and somebody who was new to middle school level," said McCray. "Somebody you can ask for advice and always willing to help, non-judgmental."

McCray added that she is impressed by Dugar because she didn't enter the education field in a traditional way.

"From what she has accomplished at New Ellenton and the amount of study and preparation and hard work she has put in is just so impressive," McCray said. "Even though she has done so much, she's a humble person. She doesn't brag about what she does. Other people have to shine the spotlight on her because she doesn't talk about the work she's put in ... I'm so proud of her and the work she's done at New Ellenton."

As for what she loves most about her job, it's the people.

"I love the people that I work with," Dugar said. "I love the community that I serve and I love my students. I look forward to it everyday, I really do."

Dugar, who is from Augusta, is a member of Mount Vernon Baptist Church in Augusta. When not working, Dugar loves to travel, read, and spending time with her family. Cruising is one of her favorite ways to travel and some of her favorite spots include Turks and Caicos and Puerto Rico.

"I'm an avid cruise, but COVID has stopped that," Dugar said. "I love being able to get on a boat and being able to fully disconnect for five days or eight days or whatever days just to be able to disconnect, to spend time in the Caribbeans or wherever. I just love the water; it's so peaceful. My zodiac, I'm a fire sign so water is peaceful to me."

When it comes to reading, she enjoys non-fiction works. One of the most recent books she read was "Finding Me: A Memoir" by Viola Davis. She also likes to read books that will help improve her craft as an educator.

Baking and cooking are also activities Dugar enjoys . She especially likes to make cakes and desserts.

"I'm a foodie so I love trying new things, I love restaurants," Dugar said. "My favorite food is Chinese."

As for what her biggest accomplishment has been throughout her career, Dugar said it was when she became a principal.

"Never in a million years I thought I would be here. It wasn't my chosen career path," Dugar said. "I do feel that I was divinely lead and I do feel like it's my purpose. It's a part of who I am and even in how I treat people, it's just a part of who I am and in my being. I have no problem modeling my expectations, what I expect the teachers to do and same thing I hold, the expectations I held for them I model."

Dugar is married and has two sons, with one attending South Carolina State University to become an educator and the other has earned a welding certification. Her husband, Mark, is the director at the Center for Innovated Learning, or CIL, with the school district.