From an early age, Tricia Grigsby Sanchez has had a strong, personal calling to help people.
It’s a vocation she is fulfilling today as vice president of the Boo Grigsby Foundation, which was created by her father, Lane Grigsby, to provide financial assistance to charitable organizations in their mission to make a difference in Baton Rouge communities and the state of Louisiana.
It’s a role Sanchez relishes. In her position as vice president, she is able to provide grants to groups that are attempting to fill gaps in the education system that are not fully funded by the government. She feels that her own background as an educator makes her job even more rewarding.
“These groups need private people to support them and keep them up,” Sanchez says. “Being able to give money and advocacy that further excellence in education has been great because my own education adds to this experience.”
After growing up in Baton Rouge, Sanchez attended college at the University of Texas, where she earned a degree in English language and literature. Though she enjoyed her years in Austin, she was committed to returning to the Capital Region, where she began teaching in East Baton Rouge Parish public school system.
Following the birth of her two sons, she retired from teaching and became involved with her father’s philanthropic activities. In 2007 he formed the Boo Grigsby Foundation, and Sanchez has been on board ever since.
Besides working with the foundation, Sanchez is involved with three organizations that share her passion for improving the educational system in Baton Rouge: City Year, Career Compass, and Teach For America. Every year, the Boo Grigsby Foundation donates $100,000 in college scholarships through Career Compass to local high school seniors.
She is also active politically in the education community, heading up Students First, a nonprofit organization that was heavily involved in local school board elections.
According to Sanchez, getting good information to the community about the issues it cares about, especially public education, is a major challenge. She often finds herself in between both sides of issues like educational reform.
“There’s usually some answer in the middle that everyone might support.”
Her husband of 15 years, Chuck Sanchez, a member of the 2008 Forty Under 40 class, is her “favorite person in the world.”
I either wanted to be a doctor or a lawyer, so I definitely had big aspirations. My parents told me I could be anything, being a doctor or a lawyer seemed like the most important things an adult could do. I realized later in life that there are many ways to help people, and a strong personal calling led me to choose teaching as a career. My roles have changed but I’m still engaged in education.
It would probably be to serve on the school or BESE board—a position where I really could use my experience and knowledge to influence policy and perceptions in a more direct way. I do not want to run for office, but I would enjoy weighing in on certain issues!
Figure out something that you’re passionate about and that you believe in. If you enjoy what you do, and you can wake up every morning knowing that you’re working toward a goal or furthering a cause you believe in, it is much easier to the find the inner motivation to keep pushing yourself.
I think our greatest strength is our sense of community. When someone is new to the area and I find that southern Louisiana can be the most welcoming people on Earth. The connections you make are often for life down here. It’s invaluable. I always assume that the people I connect with will be invaluable friends or colleagues. I’ve learned from experience that people pop up again and again in my life and so I’m always glad that I listened to them, even if we disagree. This is a pretty small town—we are lovers and fighters, and things can get heated. I think the diverse ideas that people all have for this community are all rooted in a common desire to make Baton Rouge a better place.
Anywhere with a view of the Mississippi River at sunset. The beauty of this state continues to take my breath away and always reminds me of why I love Louisiana. This is a beautiful place we live in and we are lucky to have places like the Shaw Center and the levee to enjoy our gorgeous landscape.
I would change the way people process their information because I think there’s a tendency towards polarization on issues when the “sides” have more in common than we realize. I would change everyone’s attitude about collaboration and compromise. I often find myself in mediator mode, trying to bring all sides together even when they some of their perceptions or information may not be complete.
Showing people that compromise will only be reached when they’re not so focused on their own views that they’re not willing to look at what might be flawed about their own agenda. I am constantly adjusting my assessments. Also, time management, figuring how much free time I have to spend so I can spend quality time with my husband and two sons.
In the next five years, I see myself trying to facilitate the exchange of good information between the school system at the local level and the public as well as trying to help the local school system implement the top down reforms from Gov. Jindal with success. Sometimes things get lost in translation between the government institution and the public, so I’m hoping to be a facilitator on every end of this.
