News Article

Single mom inspiring others in fitness, education


5/29/2008 11:46:19 AM


Tracy Seaward on stage at the 2006 Newfoundland and Labrador Amateur Body Building Championships. Photo by Barry Acreman

Like most single moms, Tracy Seaward leads a busy life.

But the 36-year-old Stephenville resident is not only busy looking after her two children – she also attends school full-time and has been training to compete in the fitness portion of the Newfoundland and Labrador Amateur Body Building Association (NLABBA) Championships taking place this Saturday, June 7, in St. John’s.

This will be Seaward’s second fitness competition (she first competed at the provincials in 2006) and she says it was her passion for fitness that ultimately led to her decision to return to school.

“I never finished high school and I never really thought about going back because as each year went by, I felt less and less confident that I could do the school work,” she says. “It was actually while I was up on the stage (at the body building competition) in front of all of those people that I decided I was going to go back to school… that I was going to do it! I figured, if I could do that competition, I could do anything.”

Seaward wasted no time. As soon as she returned to Stephenville she called College of the North Atlantic and asked what she needed to do to earn a diploma in Business.

She had been out of school for 19 years, and thus enrolled in the Adult Basic Education program. She expects to successfully complete her high school equivalency in November and then plans to enroll in Business.

“I didn’t think I could go back (to school), but now that I’m in there, I love it. The teachers are great. It’s a lot of fun,” she says.

Of course, as all students will tell you – single moms or not – the workload is immense.

“The school work began to take up all my spare time and I figured there was no way I could do another fitness show,” she says. “But then I thought, why not?”

Seaward reviewed her schedule. In order to have time to do her school work, get in her workouts and still be a mom, her day would have to start at 5 a.m.

“I get up around 5 a.m., go for my run, get back to the house around 6:30 to get Jason and Jenna ready for the day. Jason is 17 now (Jenna is 5) and he helps out a lot. It would be a lot harder to do this if I didn’t have his support.”

With the kids off to school, Seaward gets herself ready for her day at college, does her weight workouts between classes or after school, and still looks after the regular household chores.

“People ask me how I do it. I don’t know. I just do it,” she says. “But I don’t think I could take on any more. I don’t know if I could keep up if it got any harder than this.”

But she’s hoping the pace won’t always be this hectic.

“I won’t always be involved in competitive fitness or body building,” she says. “Once I complete the Business program I’d like to open up my own fitness business.”

Practice at counselling clients about a healthy lifestyle will also take place at college.

“When we found out Tracy was doing this competition, we decided to see what we could do to help her out,” says Chad Simms, administrator at the college’s Bay St. George campus. “We contacted Provincial Airlines, who came on board with a $200 travel voucher, we contacted the hotel for her, the marketing department donated some college clothing… the support was tremendous. In return, Tracy has volunteered to speak to current students about fitness and leading healthy lifestyles, and also to mature students about the challenges of returning to school. She’s an inspiration to her classmates and a great ambassador for the college.”

That ambassadorship will extend to the NLABBA stage. This year Seaward is having her posing suit made in the college’s green and blue colours.

“College of the North Atlantic has done a lot for me, not just in terms of my fitness goals, but with my educational goals. I’m proud to be a student here and am more than happy to talk to others about my experience,” she says.

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For more information contact:

Stephen Lee
Manager of Marketing and Communications
College of the North Atlantic
709-643-7721
stephen.lee@cna.nl.ca

or

Tanya Alexander
Public Information Officer
College of the North Atlantic
709-643-7928
tanya.alexander@cna.nl.ca