“Access to resources and exposure to the world beyond our front door can truly make all the difference,” says Christiane Buggs, president and CEO of nonprofit PENCIL, which last year directed $3 million in school and classroom supplies to students in Metro Nashville Public Schools.
A former chair of the MNPS board, Christiane has seen the impact of PENCIL for almost as long as she can remember. As a child, she accompanied her aunt, a second-grade teacher, on adventures to PENCIL to pick up free school supplies for her classroom. When Christiane attended Cumberland Elementary and Jones Paideia, PENCIL Partners brought school supplies, hosted class parties and donated computers at her schools.
Those experiences took place long before Christiane earned a physics degree from Tennessee State University, worked for NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab in Pasadena, Calif., taught middle school math, and eventually became an MNPS parent, with a son at Jones. “And I am proud to see PENCIL still making a difference in his school and every other MNPS school,” says the happy alumna of Martin Luther King Jr. School.
For 44 years, PENCIL has been tying the business community to public schools to direct resources like time, capital and equipment into classrooms. Throughout her career, Christiane has channeled her own time and talent into improving educational opportunities and outcomes. She didn’t expect or intend to follow in the vocational footsteps of her family — including her politician grandfather, Harold M. Love Sr., and her mathematician-educator grandmother, Mary Y. Love — but she’s forged a path to serve students in her own way.
“I became a teacher to make sure students felt more comfortable developing math skills,” Christiane says. “I joined the school board to influence policy. My tenure at both made me realize that ‘community’ is one lever we do not pull on enough to be sure every child is prepared to become a happy, healthy neighbor.”
As PENCIL prepares to renovate and relocate to the former Robert E. Lillard Elementary School in North Nashville, Christiane looks forward to increasing the nonprofit’s capacity, with triple the warehouse space, a standalone free teacher supply store with twice the square footage, a designated volunteer center and a teacher workroom.
“PENCIL believes that talent is evenly distributed among our city’s children, but unfortunately, access and opportunity are not,” Christiane says. “Public education is everybody’s business. A thriving public education system that provides better opportunity and access to the children who need it most will lift up all of our children and enable everyone in our community to prosper.”
Dress: Teri Jon by Rickie Freeman floral dress (Gus Mayer)
Shoes: Model’s own
Earrings: Faceted abalone earrings (Patricia Marie Fine Jewelry)
Bracelet: Tourmaline and diamond cuff (Patricia Marie Fine Jewelry)
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