To the left of the front office of the Freshman Academy and down the hall is room F-124. In between classes, Tracey Duckworth stands chatting with classroom neighbors, celebrating Taylor Swift milestones, or paying homage to “Mean Girls” the musical with her pink outfits on Wednesdays. Beyond these signature characteristics, however, Duckworth is also heavily involved in the Spartan community.
Duckworth has been a teacher since 2001, where she started as an English teacher at Hickory Ridge Middle School. In 2015, Duckworth became a Spartan. Throughout her tenure at White Station High School, she has taught almost all levels of English I, including honors, traditional, co-teach and hearing impaired. She also taught Mythology for five years until the class was removed. However, Duckworth’s time at school is not limited to just the seven periods of classes.
“I was a part of a lot of clubs when I was in high school,” Duckworth said. “And granted, most of them were more [on] the academic side. But back then, those were really the ones that did stuff. I mean, Key Club was a big, big one at my school when I was in high school … and then of course the Honor Societies … but I also was a big yearbook person. And that to me is probably why I’m as active and as creative as I am in certain things. Like literally this week, I am dressing up for [the] Taylor Swift album.”
As a teacher, Duckworth takes more of a mentor role with clubs rather than participating in them, sponsoring four this year. These clubs include Model United Nations (Model UN), Humane Society Club, E-board and Swifties in Sparta.
“[Clubs] give [students] something else to think about besides the monotony of their school,” Duckworth said. “But it also gives them opportunities to maybe find something else that they want to do. You know, especially like in Model UN. It’s really interesting to see how students in Model UN … start to blossom. They start to speak out and they start to speak up.”
Model UN is a club where students act as diplomats in the United Nations, representing different countries. At conferences, they work to solve and debate pressing issues. The club is student run, meaning it is the students’ responsibility to teach each other the skills needed for conferences and prepare themselves. Duckworth’s role is merely supervision of the students and finances for trips. So far, Model UN has taken Duckworth to many places including St. Louis, Chicago, Nashville and New Orleans.
“So the [reason I started sponsoring] Model UN — one was [that the] teacher who was here left in the middle of the year,” Duckworth said. “And I had only volunteered to help because I was familiar [with] Model UN from watching various movies and I was interested in that. And I remember that being a lot of fun … [it] was a challenge.”
Another club that frequents Duckworth’s room is the Humane Society, a club dedicated to helping animals find homes and live happier and healthier lives. Their main method to achieve this is by creating posters that can be seen around the halls, showing two animals that need homes each month.
“The Humane Society [club] has been around for probably about six or seven years,” Duckworth said. “There was a teacher here, Ms. Patterson … and when she left, the club didn’t have a sponsor. Unfortunately, as it’s obvious that I care about animals, and specifically cats … I said yes. I also am a teacher that literally has every single art supply under the sun … [so] I was a perfect fit … [Humane Society] will be the only club that I will probably keep after next year.”
Swifties at the Station, E-board and, by extension, student council are the other two clubs that Duckworth sponsors. The first was born out of Duckworth’s love for Taylor Swift, and the club serves as a common area for Swift’s fans, known as Swifties — allowing them to talk and become friends with other Swifties. E-board and the student council use her room to plan for events around the school. Event planning and supervision of the events requires Duckworth to be heavily involved with the students, which is why she is paid to supervise it.
“[E-board] plan[s] the school events, homecoming, pep rallies, the dances,” Duckworth said. “So this fall, we’re doing the trunk [or] treat … It is extremely tiring because I am extremely involved. Going and getting the flowers for homecoming, helping everybody figure out how to do various things … going to Sam’s [Club] and getting the supplies for the dances. And then keeping up with the money so that we can buy supplies for decoration or something like that.”
Duckworth’s clubs require a lot of attention as there is a meeting for one of them every day of the week on average. The lack of free time cuts into the time she can dedicate to grading and to her personal time. Because of this, she plans to stop sponsoring many of the clubs next year, including E-board and student council, which require the most attention. The busy schedule and hard work that she puts into the clubs she sponsors takes a lot of energy, making it unsustainable in the future.
“But I do try to, you know, [to] get things accomplished,” Duckworth said. “I have three really good [teaching assistants] that I feel like I can trust and they can help me with [a variety of tasks].”
When the schedule gets overwhelming, Duckworth can rely on her husband, sons and cat, who are a constant source of support at home. In her rare moments of respite, she can often be found practicing self care through manicures, pedicures, facials or watching reality television shows to wind down at night. Outside of home, Duckworth also has strong friendships with other teachers that she can lean on.
“I am a person who believes that when you need a break, you take it,” Duckworth said. “And if it takes more than what you’re thinking it’s going to, you still let yourself take it. Because otherwise you’re going to go crazy.”
