Quacy’s at the top of the class
Quacy McGowan had been a supposed pageant misfit all her life- not the right height or pencil thin figure and way too shy- struggling with the desire to be onstage but consciously stepping away until Ms Renaissance found her stashed in a classroom.
The organisers were looking for phenomenal women to fill the line-up this year; just the kind of catchy, flattering persuasion that would convince any older woman to sign up. Quacy, 31, subsequently got a phone call and five months later, a crown. The little girl who grew up thinking she was not ideal pageant material was suddenly a queen.
She was actually relieved that in signing on there were no questions about how much she weighs and how tall she is. In fact, she celebrated what was her entrance onto a stage that had been secretly calling her all her life, and just to ensure she did not squander the opportunity, she made a plan to win the thing.
But it was not easy. For a woman who has stood in front of a classroom and educated children for 13 years and counting Quacy is terribly shy. She hid behind other women in television appearances, barely spoke when questions went her way and confined herself to certain sections of whatever room she found herself in.
Then it happened. After months of breaking in and public appearances, Quacy found her voice and a secret weapon (an infectious smile) that suddenly had her in the running for the title of Ms Renaissance 2008. She had a wake-up moment during a live appearance on Guyana Today; commanding attention and dominating the space she shared with a few other women in the line-up. She was a shoo-in for the final four based on the pre-pageant reports and as it turned out she was. She slipped into the finals confident and emerged the queen.
If you had a chance to change one thing in your life, what would it be and why? The question was posed to the final four women left standing in the pageant on the night of November 1 at the National Cultural Centre (NCC) and though the other responses were good, Quacy sealed the win with a direct and impacting answer.
What did she say? She spoke of changing her status from a teacher to President of Guyana with an immediate focus of increasing salaries for teachers. She went on to explain that the mass exodus of the nation’s educators would cease if they are paid better wages and if better living and working conditions existed.
Trust a teacher to say just that, but Quacy was serious in her response and she is even more passionate about the issue. As a teacher who has worked in the public education system for over a decade she is qualified to raise her voice in protest over salaries and current teaching conditions. She is in the private system now, but according to her there is no vast difference between the two. Quacy is a Grade Two teacher at Mae’s Primary School. Prior to this, she taught at St. Andrews Primary at every level for some 12 years.
She recalled in an interview with The Scene this week that the NCC had erupted into an uproar after her response and admitted too, that she was not certain whether the crowd was mocking or cheering her. She went backstage and was given a little reassurance from a few of the women who failed to make the final four.
“Quacy, go girl”, was one of the more distinct shouts of approval she remembers hearing while on stage. Though there is talk of her actually organising a support contingent to fill certain sections of the NCC that night Quacy said it is not true. She said the crowd was indeed throwing its support behind her but the only persons she knew for certain were in the audience were members of her family- very few in number.
On a regular weekday, Quacy is in the classroom delivering lessons to children who now openly acknowledge how they see her given that she has soared to the Ms Renaissance crown. There is regular talk of how pretty she is and endless chatter about her wardrobe on the night of the pageant. Newspaper clippings of her are on posters and as she puts is, “there always seems to be a new one”.
When Quacy first took up teaching she saw it as a temporary career — she was unable to find anything else at the time and decided to teach in the interim. She ended up at training college, excelling there and finally it dawned on her; she was meant to teach. She said it was a ‘light bulb’ moment and from that day onward teaching became her life.
She has seen it all as a teacher — the slow learner who requires additional attention and appreciates it more when the teacher never makes it appear that way; the child who is ahead of everyone else but allows her to carry on the lesson without interruption; the little boy/girl who has been physically and sexually abused and sits in class distant all the time.
Quacy said her students are closer to her than most people. She said the children are her true loves noting that she has learned what it is like to be patient and to be a good listener. She said the profession, despite the obvious struggles, is a wonderful one that offers educators the opportunity to shape lives; young lives. She reveals that she is neither married nor a parent.
“You have to love it to do it,” she said of teaching, pointing out that the cliché really is true.
Quacy has been part of the BEAMS programme and is also involved in the Be Safe programme in the educational system. She said that the job allows her to effect real change in the lives of young children, adding that it is part of why she grew to love it so much.
She credits the Ms Renaissance pageant with making her a stronger woman saying that it forced her to compete at an extremely high level. Since capturing the crown she and the other women have formed a group to assist orphaned children and single parent, female-headed households. According to her, they are seeking private sector assistance to get a few projects off the ground. (ianaseales@yahoo.com)
