Taitung school mourns former Fulbright scholar killed in DC plane crash

Taipei, Feb. 5 (CNA) Administrators at Taitung's Guan-Shan Elementary School are mourning the death of Kiah Duggins, who taught English at the school as a Fulbright Scholarship recipient in 2017-18 and was killed in a plane crash in Washington, D.C. last week.

Duggins, 30, was one of 67 victims killed when an American Airlines passenger plane collided with a U.S. Army helicopter at low altitude as it approached Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport on Jan. 29.

The American Institute in Taiwan published a Facebook post Tuesday mourning Duggins' death in the crash, noting that she had previously served as a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant (ETA) at an elementary school in Taitung's Guanshan Township.

In an interview with CNA on Tuesday, Chen Wen-ling (陳文玲), the principal of Guan-Shan Elementary School where Duggins taught, said many of the school's teachers were in a state of shock and sadness after learning of her death.

Although she arrived to serve as the school's principal soon after Duggins left in 2018, she often heard teachers reminiscing about her, Chen said.

Meanwhile, Chuang Fang-jou (莊訪柔), the school's academic affairs director, who is currently abroad, sent her memories of Duggins to Chen, who shared them with CNA.

Chuang described Duggins as "positive, energetic, optimistic and sincere," someone who greeted everyone with a smile and was like a "big sister" to her students.

"Students loved interacting with her, and there was always the sound of laughter coming out of the English classroom," Chuang said.

Duggins even returned to Taiwan and visited the school after completing her year as an English Teaching Assistant, she said.

Chuang said her deepest impression of Duggins came at the end of the school year, when she took individual photos with all of the students, and then made them into cards and distributed them, each with a handwritten message.

Guan-Shan Elementary School has "over 300 students," and for a teacher to take it upon herself to do something like that showed what a warm person Duggins was and how much she valued her time with the students, Chuang said.

On a personal level, Chuang said she felt "very sad" and "unable to believe that such a wonderful person was gone," adding that she hoped Duggins' soul was "at peace in heaven."

After leaving Taiwan, Duggins attended Harvard Law School and had planned to become a law professor at Howard University, according to AIT.