Starting four months ago, sophomore Abby Washkowiak started her dream as a model and actress.
“I remember one day a woman named Tara Kuprel texted me and asked if I was interested in modeling and I got teary eyed because I was excited and happy,” she said.
Then on Jan.5, she went to an interview in Little Rock at Clarion Hotel, where she went to a conference room with over 200 people waiting for their interview too. In the conference room, a spokesperson spoke to the kids about the qualifications of being a model or actress.
“When I was there, it was so nerve-racking because she had us raise our hands to see who all wanted to do runway, and she saw me and picked me to come up on stage. Then she told me to walk down the aisle and said all these terms and I had no idea, but I winged it and had fun doing it,” she said.
In the future, Waskowiak plans to be a model or an actress. She said she would love to go to a college in New York, but for now just trying to make it through high school.
This summer she will attend a modeling/acting competition called the Annual Southwest Barbazon Competition July 20-21 in Irving, Texas.
She said the competition consist of 300 current Barbazon students or graduated students. There are 50 scouts and agents looking for the people they would like to represent. Entering into the competition ,models can win up to $60,000 in scholarship prizes for college. It consists of many divisions such as age, weight, gender, monologue, modeling and singing.
Along with the modeling division, she said she will enter in the monologue division. In the monologue division she has to memorize a script for a30-second commercial. She will perform it in front of about 300 people on a jumbo screen and she has to advertise the product.
To prepare for the competition, she has been in a six-month class. In the class, she said she learns all types of etiquette, make-up and hairstyles, runway turns, and the do’s and don’ts of photo shoots. She also worked on her acting skills.
“I’m super excited about it. I’m really anxious too. I’m happy that I have this opportunity to meet new people, try new things and even if I don’t win I have already won because this opportunity is the prize itself,” she said.
