When sophomore Will Patton is not showing his skills on the varsity football team, he spends his time posing in front of a camera.

“When I am in the moment I feel relaxed and comfortable. I have worked with some good people and photographers,” Patton said. “Just do what you are told and you will do fine.”

Even though it runs in his family, Patton started modeling in 2016 when he got the opportunity from West Model Management.

“My mom used to work as a model and one of her friends Gail Lassenger owns West Model Management,” Patton said. “We thought, since I have the face for it, I should go ahead and audition, and I got signed.”

Patton hopes to change the perception on models. He says he does not care what other people think, because he likes doing it.

“People think that all models are stuck up, but I’m more of a people pleaser. I like to help people out and be normal,” Patton said. “I keep doing what I’m doing and keep being me. They saw me as a normal person before, and I’m going to keep doing it after.”

Patton believes his greatest accomplishment was modeling in front of people on the runway.

“Doing runways is the most stressful thing because instead of being in a studio shooting with one or two other people, I have to go and walk in front of like a hundred people,” Patton said. “At the age of 16, everyone else was way older than me so it was really intimidating at first. But since I’ve done three shows so far it was okay and I got used to it.”

He says that he had to work hard to learn to be confident about himself on the runway.

“I taught myself to be comfortable,” Patton said. “Everyone always tells me that they wish they started out as young as I did.”

Patton feels like it is his responsibility as a model is to stay true to himself.

“Stay humble,” Patton said. “There’s a lot of challenges you face, a lot of money involved, so it can change you and I just try to remember where I come from and stay humble.”