Gorgeous flowing hair, soft white lights in the background, a 700-dollar designer dress fitting loosely around your perfectly slender frame, a three karat stone hanging from your neck and a bare chiseled torso just inches away from your face — all of it immortalized in one glamorous shot.

Michelle Winens Impossible combination for a Lowell student? Nope. After school, these student models walk down a cat walk of a different sort.

Oh life is sweet for a model. What could be better? The personification of glamour, models live in extravagance: endless supplies of designer clothing and the ability to fly around the world just to attend parties. Most people would kill to have that kind of life — it’s all so simple and perfect. Right?

Not exactly.

While modeling has its perks, the life of a student model at Lowell is more mundane than most would imagine. The road to glamour is a difficult and intense juggling act of school, extracurricular activities, and modeling. While most students manage to schedule their jobs on the weekends, each photo shoot can take up to two days, leaving little room of completing Lowell’s notoriously burdensome homework load.

“I had a shoot after school once and didn’t get home until midnight and spent much of the next day at school finishing homework for my next classes,” sophomore model Genna Umanski said. “And now that Song is going to Nationals I have been very busy, but since most of my modeling work is on the weekends and after practices, I am able to deal with all my work.”

Along with the loss of time, models often find themselves in situations which would make the average high schooler cringe with embarrassment. “I was at a shoot in downtown San Francisco and I was working with a designer who designs mostly shirts,” Umanski recalled. “He wanted me to just wear the shirt and I didn’t bring any shorts. The shoot was in the boutique and there were windows all around and people just kept staring at me; it was an uncomfortable situation.”

Runway models, on the other hand, have to worry about falling in front of the crowd. Junior model Kris Domingo constantly worries about the unseen banana peel. “Tripping would be horrible,” he said. In order to hone his coordination and avoid such fatal falls Domingo takes advanced dance classes.

Balancing dedication to school and modeling is not that simple. “Many people think that the industry is easy and it’s not,” said 16-year-old model Diana Georgie, who is home-schooled. “Of course it’s glamorous, but it is also very difficult. You have thousands of people competing for one spot. If you’re strong you’ll make it and have sweet times.”

Georgie, who after six months of modeling has been featured in Vogue and San Francisco Magazine, intends to pursue modeling as a career. “I have always been infatuated with modeling,” she said. “I loved watching all the shows and when I was about 13 or 14, I saw this picture of Kate Moss — which I still have — that made me want to pursue modeling. I was like, ‘Wow, I want to look like that,’ and I’m sure this is what I want to do.”

With the opportunities available to models, why do they bother dealing with all the fuss of school and homework? Parents. While the models’ parents encourage their child’s talent for modeling, they insist that their children have educations to fall back on.

“She definitely has to go to college,” said Tiffany Graham and John Simerman, parents of freshman model Ariela Simerman. “We will always support her, but college is a must. It’s just good to have opportunity-wise.”

Simerman not only plans to go to college to fulfill her parents’ wishes, but to pursue her own passion. “I’d like a career in dance, any kind of dance” she said. “I’ve been training since I was three and I just love it.” Simerman’s college plans, according to her, will also provide more options in life, just in case her interest in modeling changes.

Other student models at Lowell also see modeling as a hobby and intend to pursue other careers after college. Umanski does not plan to continue modeling because she believes the pressure to be thin and absorbed with body image is harmful to young models. “I’m not 100 percent sure about what I’d like to do, but I’d really want to be a pediatrician,” Umanski said. “I’ve been around kids my whole life and I want a job that allows me to work with kids.”

Though dedicated to modeling now, going as far as structuring a light course load to accommodate his modeling schedule, Domingo holds no plans for modeling in his immediate future. Instead, modeling serves as a financial tool to earn money for college where he intends on majoring in either graphic design or acting. He would never consider dropping out of high school. “If I really wanted to model full time, I could do it after high school. It is extremely important to finish school first. Modeling will still be there,” he stated.

Even Georgie, who has achieved considerable success, is uncertain of her continued involvement. “You never know what is going to happen,” Georgie said. “You should always have a back-up plan because at any minute someone could just take your place.”

Much of the success models receive is due to their supportive friends and parents, who never discourage their dreams but rather praise them for their hard dedication.

“My friends have been really accepting,” Umanski said. “People are curious and want to know what modeling is about. It has been good attention, not bad. People sometimes worry about the pressure affecting my mindset, but overall it has been fine.”

The parents, however, provide the key support. They willingly throw themselves behind their children and assist in management, driving to and from shoots and shows, and get the child started. Domingo estimates his parents spend around $50 a month between buying gas and paying for tolls while driving him to jobs. He said they don’t mind the extra work, because they understand it is something he thoroughly enjoys, adding that they know he’ll pay them back in the future.

In some cases, parents are often the catalyst for the entire career. Umanski’s father knew she enjoyed acting and suggested she try modeling. He now acts as her manager, helping her balance her time and choose what jobs to take. Domingo’s dad also helped him start, by helping him sign with an acting agency, which led to modeling. Simerman’s mother, a sculptor and oil painter, launched her career through her many photographer friends. “I modeled for one of my mom’s friends and they liked me so they passed my number around that’s how I got started,” Simerman said.

INFOGRAPHIC Although the money and free things models receive can be fantastic, nothing compares to the life experiences of modeling. From meeting new people or enduring the embarrassment of tripping down a runway, the lessons learned are priceless.

“Modeling is gratifying,” Simerman said. “And it helps you with your people skills because you do meet a lot of new people all the time. I think it just raises your confidence in front of people.” Confidence is key to making it big in the industry, according to Georgie. “The most important thing for a model to be is confident in their own skin,” she said. “In my opinion the most successful models are the ones who stick to what they believe in and not change because they want to make it big. You should never lose who you really are.”