In 2017, SCA Alum Eric Lucas’s life was at a standstill. Then a recent high school graduate with limited resources, Lucas attended career fairs to find his path, but nothing resonated.
“I didn’t want to be a firefighter or a police officer or a jail correctional officer,” Lucas said.
Then, one day, he heard an ad on the radio for the Mobile Bay Resiliency Corp, a pilot program offered in partnership with the SCA Gulf Corps that was set to begin in two months. He decided to apply.
Lucas’s first position with the SCA was oyster mapping the marsh in his hometown of Africatown, an area of Mobile, alongside a crew of peers who were similarly out of their element.
“They took us to places I didn’t even know existed. Some of the environments were beautiful, some were treacherous and a lot of them were very uncomfortable,” Lucas said. “We saw different creatures. People were falling in the mud. It was hilarious, but people got into it!”
SCA Alum Eric Lucas. (Photo Credit: Eric Lucas)
Lucas’s work with the Mobile Bay Resiliency Corps also involved creating trail markings to enhance accessibility and visibility along the waterways. The landing site of the last American slave ship, called the Clotilda, Africatown was established as a free community by displaced Africans who survived enslavement.
Helping to educate the public was an especially resonant part of Lucas’s experience. One of his favorite things was going into middle schools to present on water management.
“The only thing we had coming into schools was, ‘Be drug-free.’ These were middle school students. Nobody cares,” Lucas said. “But when it was time for me to present, I had dramatic music going and a sad presentation of what’s going on [in the environment]. It really resonated with the kids, and I enjoyed it as well.
SCA Alum Eric Lucas. (Photo Credit: Eric Lucas)
Season after season, Lucas kept coming back to work with the SCA Gulf Corps. In 2021, he was approached to take on a Fire Corps position that required him to travel away from home for the first time.
“That was probably one of the best experiences I ever had,” Lucas said. “We camped a lot and ate camp food. I never had camp food before— man, that was the best food I ever had. I went to a mountain for the first time. I didn’t know Alabama had mountains. The workday started at 7 a.m., and we would be out there all day creating a fire line, going up and down. I was in the best shape of my life.”
After his time with the SCA, Lucas leveraged the skills he gained in chainsaw use, carpentry, project management and networking to establish a professional career in parks management. He currently works full-time in the Parks and Recreation Department for the city of Spanish Fort, Alabama, where he manages a growing roster of city parks.
“Joining the SCA can push you in different directions you would never think possible,” Lucas said. “Having an open mind in this field can get you everywhere you want to go.”
