Come July, you can still have a shirtless Trumbull freshman in your room.
While “studying” in CCL during reading week at about 11 p.m., Whitney Seibel ’06 and Emmy Harris ’06 never expected their discussion of the “hotties” living in entryway C and D of Bingham to lead to the creation of a calendar of Trumbull’s finest freshmen.
“We should make a calendar,” Harris said. “Then we should sell it.”
Seibel said she thought her friend was kidding, but soon realized Harris was serious in her intent to capitalize on Trumbull’s attractive men. The girls and their friends compiled a list of possible candidates to model for the calendar, approached the would-be models, conducted photo shoots for each, and produced a calendar, which is on sale for seven dollars.
Seibel and Harris have only one regret — the selections were biased to the “freshmeat” they already knew.
“It was kind of biased because the people we knew were going to get on there first,” Harris said. Seibel said that taking photos for the calendar would be a good way to meet the attractive Trumbullians they did not already know.
The girls said it was difficult to please everyone, and if they had to do it over they would poll the Trumbull students in order to select which students to include. Some girls said they would have chosen different guys, but the calendar creators noted that guy preference is personal.
“It was a tough decision,” Seibel said. “I think we may have made a few people kind of mad.”
The girls said they sent e-mails titled “Want to be Exploited?” to the potential male models. The girls said they received enthusiastic “of course” replies from the guys.ÊJonathan Pitts-Wiley ’06 said he thought the idea was funny.
“It was pretty fun — I am not going to lie,” he said.
Other guys were not as excited, initially.ÊFrederick Lee ’06 — Mr. November — said he thought the e-mail was a joke.
Jihad Beauchman ’06 said he was not sure about whether he would participate, but was eventually convinced to model by his four other “model” suitemates.
“It just seemed weird to be put on a calendar at first,” Beauchman said.
Beauchman said a lot of people have approached him and said, “I like your picture in the calendar.” He said he would pose again.
The girls said one candidate declined to model because he felt badly for the ones who were not chosen.
But Pitts-Wiley found the invitation both flattering and beneficial.
“They had me take my shirt off,” he said, “and I had the chest of a 12-year-old boy.” Despite this prepubescence, he was still pleased with his photos.
“My momma thinks I’m attractive,” Pitts-Wiley said.
Pitts-Wiley also admitted that the photo shoot has inspired him to get back in the weight room.
The models said the photographers handled their task professionally, snapping 90 to 100 photos of each male model.
“They kept it fun,” Pitts-Wiley said. “They took a lot of photos and it was pretty funny.”
The girls said the men were really good sports — especially the ones who took their shirts off — and were all “natural models” once they got behind the camera.
Harris said some of the models disrobed of their own initiative, while others were a bit more shy.
“We had to coax the shirts off some of them,” said Seibel.
The girls plan to sell the calendars around campus and refer to the project as their “virgin entrepreneurial project.” They plan to give all profits to “Women for Dignity and Self-Reliance,” an organization founded by Carolyn Rothman ’06 in Trumbull. The organization is dedicated to providing self-defense classes and basic necessities for needy women in the New Haven area.
“The original idea was to exploit men for women,” said Seibel.
Seibel’s dad helped her to create the December collage with all the models. Seibel said he thought the idea was funny.
“My dad helped me print some of them over break,” Seibel said. “So he knows some of them by month.”