Why are you standing in the election?
”A friend egged me on. The election is pretty cool, it’s being organized by a big casting agency and it has a lot of sponsors. It opens lots of doors. The photo shoot was very cool and the winner gets to model for America Today. It makes a change; I like to throw myself into new adventures.’
What are you going to do to win votes?
‘I’m going to appeal to my network through the social media and other avenues. Next week I’m meeting with a boy (Lex) from Amsterdam who’s standing in the election as well. We’re going to write and record a song together and put it on Youtube and Facebook. Hopefully that’ll earn us some more votes.’
Voting online for a posed photo. The Student of the Year election does sound a little superficial…
‘The first round is superficial; it’s just spamming people trying to collect votes. That really isn’t my thing. The debate in the quarter final will probably touch on questions such as "how would you change the education system?" If I reach the final I also get to write an essay. I prefer those parts of the election process; they’re content-based and I have more influence over them.’