Most teenagers bus tables or babysit when they want to have some extra cash, but some South students have followed a path away from minimum wage to pursue a career in modeling.

“The modeling business is a lot more complex than I ever thought it was,” Becky Lothian, sophomore model Tori Lothian’s mother, said. “Getting and finding jobs is not easy, and takes a lot of time to investigate and manage.”

According to sophomore Paola Santos, who began modeling in 2007, the audition process for a modeling job is nerve-wracking and does not always result in the outcome she may want. However, when it does, it’s worth the nerves. She explained how she begins each audition by turning in her comp card, or a composition of all of her photos.

“You hand them [the card] and you just talk,” Santos said. “You say your name, your age. You model a little bit for them sometimes. Mainly if they like you and they’re what you need they’ll be like, ‘Okay, thank you, we’ll be calling you,’ ‘We’ll keep in touch’ or something like that.”

Santos began modeling after her eldest brother got into modeling. She explained how she has an agent whose job it is to set Santos up with auditions when an employer is looking for models.

“There have been times where my mom gets a call at eight in the morning and I’d be taking a test and they’d have to take me out of the test and out of everything to go downtown to do the job and then come back right after,” Santos said.

According to Santos, she has both good and bad experiences from her work, but she finds it mostly rewarding.

“There was one [job] that was for the Olympics,” Santos said. “When they were thinking of having the Olympics in Chicago, and it was for a private showing, it was one of my best experiences. It was just incredible, I met so many people, hair and makeup done, and everything just sort of fell into place.”

According to Tori, her experience has been different, as she began modeling in 2013 after she realized how much fun it was to do Facebook photo shoots with her friends. However, according to Tori, from an early age she would frequently be identified by her orange hair.

“Everyone would say, ‘Oh, it’s so pretty’ or ‘Oh, you should be a model’, so that’s kind of what got me started,” Tori said.

While Tori’s experience is limited, she speaks highly of modeling and explains that while she does not expect she will get famous, she is excited for her future in the field. She described her experience doing a hair show, which was the first job she’d had to audition for. According to Tori, everyone auditioning wore the same black outfits, so they all looked the same. The audition process included walking down a runway and an interview with the casting directors.

“[It was out of] thirty people and they only chose three, so that was pretty cool,” Tori said.

While student models at South agree that it is fun and rewarding, they also agree that there are negatives to being a student while working a real job. Santos said that she’s had to miss several school days because of her involvement in modeling.

“They want you in the moment and you have to get out of school and get out of sports and put everything aside,” Santos said.

In addition to the job interfering with school, all of the girls concur that, like most jobs, social pressure adds more stress. The competitive nature of the job isn’t always easy to manage.

“One thing that worries me a little is the ‘perfect body’ expectation that you hear about,” Becky said. “There are so many other models to choose from. As a result, a potential client can be very picky, and not hesitant to list what’s ‘wrong’ with a model.”

Santos agreed, adding that just as there are good days on the job, bad ones can come just as often.

“[Once] I went in and I remember freezing because I had no idea what to do,” Santos said. “And I remember this little girl was just laughing in the corner because she’s like, ‘Okay, this girl is just completely inexperienced’ and I remember walking out of there and I got to the car and just started sobbing because I was just embarrassed.”

However despite the bad days, the girls agree that the rewards are well worth the negatives.

“It’s really cool because all you have to do is be yourself,” Tori said. “That’s the coolest part about it because you don’t really have to try that hard. You just show up and they make you look pretty. It’s not really a stable job, but it is a lot of fun.”