When Elizabeth Korbak and her classmates noticed Travis Tucker consistently missing lecture, they knew it was a good sign. Korbak, a fourth-year College student and one of a few students who share a major (Math Education) with Tucker, said it was well-known that he had tried out for American Idol at the Washington, D.C. auditions, and his absence encouraged University students who were gleefully tracking his progress on the show.
"Sometime last semester, around November, he said he'd be missing two weeks of classes," Korbak said. "He was never allowed to tell us how far along he was in the process. ... We just kind of assumed after he didn't come back to class this semester that he probably made it [to the round of 24 finalists], because otherwise he would have been in class."
Korbak added that Tucker could get slapped with a $5 million fine for leaking any secrets about the show's outcomes, a warning also given by Fox publicity to any journalists pursuing interviews with contestants.
Tucker, originally from Manassas, Va., was a member of the Madrigal Choir at Osbourn Park High School from his sophomore year until graduation. According to Tucker's former choral director, Betsy Hermann, the group consisted of the top 20 singers in the school, and Tucker was a "mainstay for the tenor section."
Hermann recalled Tucker's unique performance at his senior Madrigal Feast, the choir's annual concert.
"Seniors write, every year, a skit to go with it," Hermann said. "His year, a couple of buddies and he decided that they were going to include a rap in our madrigal feast.... It came off really, really well -- it was quite unusual since we were talking about the Renaissance."
Tucker's love of hip-hop and R&B music is evident in his creation of the University's first hip-hop a capella group, ReMix. The group qualifies both as Tucker's "greatest obstacle" and "proudest moment" in an interview published on American Idol's official Web-site.
Second-year College student and fellow ReMix member Nancy Twine said the group had a rough start with only a few members sharing the responsibility of arranging the songs, but last semester's concert brought new hope for ReMix.
"This past fall we had our first concert which was free in the Chem. Auditorium," Twine said. "We were only printing like 100 programs, thinking that would be too much. We came in and it was filled. ... Travis's face
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