In a room full of nervous energy, Principal Tracy Wilson chatted among her family and colleagues. All at once, the place began to die down as a guest speaker spoke through a microphone, describing a woman who spent the first 10 years of her career as a mathematics and physical education teacher while coaching girls basketball and volleyball, as the winner of the Lakeshore Athena Award. Wilson’s mind raced as she heard her life being played back to her.

“Right then, it wasn’t a secret,” Wilson said. “Sometimes you can sit and listen, and it takes a little while. But there’s nine of us sitting there, and you don’t know who they’re going to speak about, and then she says that. So, all the sudden it just hit me. I’m crying. I’ve got tears running down my cheeks.”

The Lakeshore Athena Award is given by the Tri-Cities Chamber of Commerce as a part of Athena International, an organization that recognizes women and leadership. This year was the twelfth time the award was given.

In order to qualify for this award, someone in one’s community must nominate them. Wilson has been nominated for this award four times in the past six years, all by different people within the region.

“It’s very humbling just to be nominated from somebody outside of where you work, because it was not somebody right here from the high school that had ever nominated me,” Wilson said.

Wilson had to submit a nominee information packet that described why she qualified and how she demonstrated involvement, achievement, leadership, and so on.

Her form ended up taking her all the way to the finals. This meant that she first had to attend an evening reception to recognize all of the nominees and talk about the meaning behind the Lakeshore Athena Award.

The second requirement for all finalists was to attend a luncheon where a guest speaker gave an address, and then announced the recipient of the award. In attendance with Wilson were her husband, sisters, mother, step mother, and the superintendent and assistant superintendent, who already knew that Wilson was the winner.

“Nobody told me,” Wilson said. “They kept it a secret, which was amazing in itself because my husband’s not a very good secret keeper. I’ve got tears running down my face and I’m just totally in shock and then my husband slides in front of me this little thing he had been writing down. He’s like, ‘you know you do have to get up there and speak?’ and I was like, “Oh my gosh, I didn’t really think about that’.”

As Wilson gathered herself and prepared to get up and talk, she saw something that made her become emotional all over again.

“I stood up to give my husband a hug, and right over my husband’s shoulder is my youngest sister that lives in Milwaukee walking in the room,” Wilson said. “I started sobbing, and behind her she brings in my three sons. So then I’m bawling, and I had to get up front and talk.”

After all the joy and emotions, Wilson humbly accepted the award that recognized her for authentic self, celebration and joy, collaboration, courageous acts, fierce advocacy, giving back, learning and relationships.

“It’s really a culmination of a career spent putting other people before myself,” Wilson said. “For me, it’s an affirmation for the work that I do every single day. It’s very humbling to know that other people notice. It also is proof to young girls here in our building that it doesn’t matter where you come from, it doesn’t matter how much money your family makes, it doesn’t matter your ethnic background, your religious affiliation, it doesn’t matter any of that. If you want to work hard for something, you can have whatever you work hard for.”