Lacey Mason says that life as a celebrity is still a little too surreal. The former Avon High School student returned to her old school this week, a month after winning the ABC network’s “Dance War: Bruno vs. Carrie Ann” reality series.

Dance War is a spin-off of a similar show broadcast on BBC television in the United Kingdom and has quickly gained popularity as contestants compete for the approval of their choreographers and to out sing and dance their peers over the course of seven weeks.

Mason’s team (Team Bruno) won the contest and the Hollywood Record music contract that came with it.

At 22, she is now headed back to Los Angeles to pursue a pop music career, but not before revisiting AHS where she says that friends, faculty, and staff made one of the biggest impacts on her young life.

Mason credited a music theory class taught by AHS teacher Rick Gamble with helping her to prepare for her vocal career.

“You know, Mr. Gamble made me bring out the best in me,” she said. “He taught me to read music, know my weaknesses and strengths, and I’m thankful for that class.”

Gamble, who directs the high school’s elite “Accent” show choir, said that Mason’s appreciation is flattering.

“Lacey was an excellent student and a hard worker,” Gamble said. “When you’ve got a kid with that kind of talent you just mold it and the rest of it comes from her. I don’t know if you will ever see what she learned here in pop or on a ‘Dancing With the Stars,’ but some of it will come out in what she does.”

Assistant Principal Carmen Hurley remembers Mason as one of the school’s most positive students.

“Honestly, the day I met her, I thought ‘this child is special,’” Hurley said. “I’ve never seen her have a bad day, and I mean that. She always put other kids first and is very unselfish and just a great Christian kid.”

Mason said she was bitten by the performance arts bug during her freshman year of high school at Muncie Central.

“I got on the dance team there my freshman year and I guess I was great enough that they allowed me be on the varsity team, which was surprising to me because I had never done that kind of dancing before,” Mason said. “They were doing things with jazz and ballet and I was like ‘Whoa, I’ve never heard of this stuff before.’ And that’s where the love of it came from.”

Mason says that the performance on Dance War has raised her confidence level with respect to her vocal abilities.

“Right before the show I wasn’t as confident about my singing as I am now,” she said. “I had some confidence but of course I had questions. I got to the audition two hours late crying my eyes out because I thought I was too late and so I got there and I sung on stage, the first time free-styling it, singing, out of breath, you know, just going for it. Just putting my raw talent out there and just going for it. It felt so amazing.”

Lacey’s mother and publicist, Dr. Beverly Plummer, says she feels blessed by her daughter’s success.