Colin’s ‘little girl’ on top of the world

Tracey Lucas won an Additional National Scholarship in Environmental Studies from Bishop Anstey High School in this year’s Advanced Level Examinations. The daughter of Colin Lucas, world famous for his 1991 soca hit “Dollar Wine,” and Donna Ferraz, obtained Grade A in Geography, Biology and General Paper and Grade B in Chemistry. The story is that were it not for her mother’s tenacity, Tracey may not have gone to BAHS, as the 1996 Common Entrance (CE) results from Bishop Anstey Junior School placed her at South East Port-of-Spain Secondary School. But, says Pat Ruddell, principal of BAHS:  “Tracey’s mother spent the entire summer holiday fighting her case as she was sure something was not right.  In the end there was an error in the correction of Tracey’s paper and she had significantly higher marks to get into Bishop’s.  Her mother insisted they check and double check.” Tracey’s take on the results were: “I watched the slip of paper and I did not even know what school it was. I remember that clearly, all I knew it was not Bishop’s and all I knew I wanted to go there.” It was only recently that the 18-year-old learned the full story of her mother and grandmother’s battle, with help from Ruddell and the Junior School teachers who, “all pulled for me. My mom never stopped checking in with the school to make sure things were not stagnant and always moving forward. You know sometimes it could be the parents wanting it more than the children but it was not that, my mom wanted it because I wanted it so badly.  I am proud of my mom. In retrospect, if I had passed initially for Bishop’s I would have been a lot more complacent but because of the transfer, I had to prove myself and worked harder.”

At last week’s awards ceremony, principal Pat Ruddell underscored Tracey’s hard work:  “From that time (1996) until her final examination last June, Tracey’s academic record was outstanding. She set perfection as her goal and worked towards this with a zeal and commitment that truly exemplified the highest scholastic ideals. Unsurprisingly, she received academic awards every year from Forms 1 to 5, reaching a pinnacle of excellence in academic achievement in both Forms 4 and 5. In Form 4 Tracey placed first in her year group and earned the Most Outstanding Academic Achie-vement award.  She was given the Modell Family Award for Overall Achievement at CXC having obtained nine passes, all with distinctions.  She continued with this academic excellence in Form 6 and thus achieved the highest accolade of a National Additional Scholarship in Environmental Studies.” Tracey became asthmatic just before she entered the Common Entrance class and went through that year with lots of medication. However, on entering secondary school, Tracey remembers making a conscious decision “to get out of my shell. I was very quiet and used to cry for everything, if I fell down, no blood but I am crying. I was never part of the ‘in crowd’ and had just a couple of friends at a time. I tried to change and made my best friend from then for the next seven years.  I joined volleyball and as an enthusiastic Form One student tried everything, even hockey, and continued tennis which I had done since junior school but that was a real on-and-off relationship.” She still plays tennis with her father, with whom she is extremely close: “Actually I love my whole family. I have two brothers and a younger sister.”

A very soft spoken and dignified young woman, Tracey was eventually made head girl of the school, something she did not foresee. “It was not an issue. I did not even think about it. On my mind was to prove to myself and everybody else that you are supposed to be here. Don’t make them think they brought you into this school for absolutely nothing.  It was a good thing because from Form one I got into this habit of working and tried to do my best and just carried on year after year.  Whereas if I had passed for the school in the first place I would have gotten complacent, which happened to a lot of people. But I don’t think my family would have allowed it.” Tracey sang in the choir from Form 2 to 5, and stopped because her music afternoon fell on the same day as choir.  Next year she will sit the Grade VIII practical exam and yesterday did the Grade VI theory exam.  “I have been studying music since I was seven years old.” Tracey is teaching for the next year at her former Junior School because that is what she always wanted to do. “I used to put books on the floor and correct the books.”  Next September she will enter university to study for a degree in Early Childhood Education, which will possibly be combined with a double major in the Performing Arts. Her choices — State University of New York in Brockport or Oxford Brookes University in England. There are no boyfriends “much to my father’s great delight.” She dances: “So Broadway seems a possibility. I started dance at age six, but only ballet, and I got bored.  But I have dancing genes, my mom and her four brothers all danced and well you know daddy and his music. Mix the dance and music and you can be a very restless child.  Because of my workload I stopped in Form 3.”  However, it was in Lower 6 that one of her friends got her to start jazz, “and I am practising for a show in November now.  I re-started ballet after my exams and I do modern jazz and tap also.”

This versatile young lady plays the steelpan and represented the school at Junior Panorama.  She likes to act: “People tell me I am melodramatic but I like to use it in teaching as it captivates my students and it makes learning easier without them even realising it. They just leave me knowing more. My mom feels I should add a course in show production to the Performing Arts.”  Donna, Director Public Management in the Ministry of Public Administration and Infor-mation sees it this way: “Tracey will be giving back at the end of the scholarship. It’s a way to serve.”  And says Tracey:  “Should the possibility arise for me to produce educational material, I would try to use it to get children more enthusiastic about their country, it’s very important. Trinidad and Tobago has way too much to offer for it to just slip away.” Tracey could not end without thanking: “My mother, father, my other mothers (they will know who they are), my family, six best friends, all my teachers, but the two who influenced me most, Tina Schuler from Junior School, and Laila Boiselle-Lowe of High School.”