KU women prepare for the ’09 calendar
Five of the 12 girls practice some of their poses before the real photo shoot in August.
By Rustin Dodd (Contact)
Tuesday, July 15th, 2008
Cassie Rupp lies on her stomach, resting on the back of a white motorboat, wearing nothing but a black bikini.
Leona Lewis’ latest song hums in the background, as the 7 p.m. sun dances on the Clinton Lake waters surrounding the boat.
Rupp tosses her hair back, repositions herself and looks 15 feet across the dock at a man holding a camera.
“Slide this way a little more,” the photographer says, “hold that right there. You’re going to love this. This is killer.”
A few minutes — and a few dozen rounds of photographs — later, Rupp climbs out of the boat as onlookers stare curiously at the senior from Dighton. Rupp’s exhausted. She’s been outside for nearly 10 hours.
Rupp’s not alone. She’s here at the Clinton Lake Marina on this Sunday with four other bikini-clad KU students.
Together, they make up five of the 12 girls who were selected in May to appear in the 2009 Women of KU swimsuit calendar. The quintet, including Rupp, Jenni Henslee, Shawnee senior, Tanya Voshell, Wichita junior, Nicki Zimmerman, Iowa City, Iowa, sophomore, and Addie Fike, Shawnee sophomore, spent Sunday with calendar photographer Dave Gillispie. They scouted locations and posed for test photo-shoots, practicing for the real thing in early August.
It’s the 10th year for the calendar, which makes it the longest running University calendar of its kind in the country.
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Sitting on the dock at Clinton Lake, Tanya Voshell leaned back after her first day of swimsuit modeling.
Voshell, a pre-business major, could be the most unlikely model in next year’s calendar. Voshell was born in China and lived there until she was 11 years old. But Voshell left her hometown in Northeast China and moved to Wichita, where her mom had taken a job. She said she didn’t talk much that first year in Wichita. She couldn’t speak English. But watching television and movies helped her learn the language and the culture.
Earlier this year, a friend cut an advertisement out of the newspaper. The Women of KU calendar was looking for models. Voshell was one of more than 200 students to send in an online application. Voshell had to last through two more in-person interviews before making the final cut.
Voshell said the calendar selected its models based on their activities, grades and future goals — of course, models had to look great in a two-piece as well.
Voshell and the rest of the girls found out in mid-May that they’d be splashed across pages of the 2009 calendar.
When Nicki Zimmerman found out she’d made it, she couldn’t wait to tell her grandparents. The only problem? Zimmerman’s parents had already spilled the secret.
“How many people get to say they were in a swimsuit calendar?” Zimmerman said.
Since May, the girls have gone through months of preparation. They’ve had lessons in modeling, nutrition and fitness.
Addie Fike has always been interested in fitness. She’s majoring in health and exercise science and she said she wanted to be a physical therapist. Fike said showing off your flat tummy is just a part of the calendar.
“It allows you to highlight all your other qualities,” Fike said. “Your intelligence and your other interests.”
For Jenni Henslee, that means highlighting the fact that she’s a McNair scholar, a program that assists low-income and first-generation college students as they prepare for graduate school.
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Dave Gillispie finished up with Rupp on the boat and walked along the dock at Clinton Lake.
“Check these out,” Gillispie said, holding his camera. “These are hot.”
Gillispie’s job is to ensure that the calendar stays fresh and sexy after nine years.
That, he says, is the biggest challenge. Gillispie’s been the head photographer for the calendar for four years.
“I love my job,” he said. “I get to hang out with hot chicks all day long.”
But Gillispie also is responsible for making sure that every model feels comfortable. Few — if any — of the girls have had modeling experience.
“If a girl wants to get into modeling, this is a huge stepping stone,” Gillispie said.
Gillispie said the calendar sold most of its copies in Lawrence and the surrounding areas. But the calendar has sold copies all over the world, including requests from Denmark, Spain and Sweden.
And although 20-year-old males buy the majority of the calendars, Gillispie said people would be surprised how many mothers and young women buy the calendar.
Of course, he admits most of those calendars turn into gifts for sons and boyfriends.
“I think it’s a testament to the classy, tasteful vibe,” Gillispie said.
He said the calendar tried to keep it in the Sports Illustrated vein.
“We try to keep it sporty, sexy and hit the broadest target,” he said.
And once the shooting is done and the calendar is produced, the models’ job has just begun. They have to spend the next three to four months promoting the calendar, making as many as eight appearances a month around Kansas.
It all gives the models a chance to bond.
“It turns into a mini-sisterhood,” Gillispie said.
Standing on the dock, the models draw a crowd. A few young boys gawk from a nearby boat and a woman wants to see Rupp’s photos on Gillispie’s camera. Rupp’s pleased. The photos look calendar-worthy, but none of these will be used. The real photo shoot is three weeks away.
Rupp begins to put her cover-up on over her swimsuit.
“When you think of the large scale of KU, how big it is, and we’re one of 12,” Rupp said. “It makes it that much more special.”
— Edited by Mandy Earles
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