For her efforts, the 17-year-old Mount Aspiring College head student has been honoured with a Duke of Edinburgh Hillary award.
Lucy was among 38 other recipients of the award at a ceremony at Otago Boys’ High School on Saturday.
She said it was an "incredible" feeling to receive the gold award after working towards it for the past three years.
"It’s pretty cool to actually achieve it. It’s only 15 out of everyone who does it that actually get their gold."
Lucy organised a lot of tramps for her peers and went for a week-long hike in the Langtang Valley, in Nepal, to achieve the gold award.
During her month long stay in Nepal, in May last year, she also helped paint schools and build goat sheds for service.
"It was insane," she said.
She did not make it to Mt Everest but said her experience felt extra special because not many tourists visited the Langtang Valley.
Even after climbing 5000m, she was in awe to be still surrounded by mountains that were taller.
Lucy said she loved growing up in Wānaka and loved going up the Aspiring Matukituki Valley.
Next year, she was planning on studying sports science and psychology at the University of Otago.
"I’m hoping to go into something that I can help people be active."
Doing outdoor education at her school inspired her to go on a variety of adventures.
She was disappointed with the proposed changes to the programme from the government.
"It’s really disappointing. It’s a key part of what we do at Mount Aspiring [College] especially.
"It’s the highlight of my week going out and doing outdoor pursuits.
"It just lets you have a bit of a break from everything else while you’re still learning."
