BATON ROUGE - By a 6-2 vote, the East Baton Rouge Parish School Board on Thursday selected Emily Chatelain as the new District 8 representative -- filling a void created by the sudden departure of Katie Kennison.

Chatelain, 36, will hold the post until an election takes place, likely in the spring. The winner of that election will then serve the remainder of Kennison's term -- through the end of 2026.

Chatelain is the founder of the "Three O'Clock Project," an after-school program that was formed in Baton Rouge, focused on providing nutritional services to students. She is currently the executive director of that organization, which had served more than 6 million meals as of June 2022.