Official Student Newspaper of Henry M. Gunn High School

The Oracle

Official Student Newspaper of Henry M. Gunn High School

The Oracle

Official Student Newspaper of Henry M. Gunn High School

The Oracle

Teacher pursues hand modeling career

Social Studies teacher Warren Collier poses his hand for the camera as if he was modeling a T-Mobile phone for an upcoming commerical.

By: Boot Bullwinkle

When the word “model” is mentioned, most people would think of the glamorous wings and figures of Victoria’s Secret models covered with gaudy lingerie. There is, however, a model who has graced Gunn students with his hands’ beauty. His name is Warren Collier.

Known to many as a social studies teacher, Collier also has “Hand Model” on his business card. Although modeling is not his primary job, Collier has propelled his fingers to fame. “The most famous ad I did was for Apple at the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference,” he said. “They were talking about the new ways of swiping the mouse pad, and [it] was my hand on the screen.”

The beginning of his career began as a joke in college. The movie “Zoolander” had just been released, and Collier’s friends had always teased him about his “pretty hands.” “The joke was about the hand model, so my friends teased me that I should become a hand model,” Collier said. Little did Collier know, the joke would eventually become reality.

After college, Collier was approached by his then-girlfriend (and current wife), who asked him to model in an ad for her. Channeling his inner “Zoolander,” Collier strutted his stuff in his first advertisement. “All I had to do was hold a computer chip in my fingers, but when I saw the ad in a magazine I thought it was really cool,” Collier said.

Collier was captivated by the modeling scene, so after a search for local modeling agencies, he sent in a few photos of his hands to the agency that seemed to be the right fit for him. “A couple days later, they called me in and said that they thought they were good so they brought me in to sign a contract,” he said.

Now with an ongoing contract, Collier has to keep his hands pristine, and goes through extra measures to make sure that he doesn’t damage his hands. “I’m not one of the super-intense hand models that wear gloves, but I will put on a Band-Aid on the tiniest cut to make sure that it heals quickly and cleanly,” he said. Even though he is only asked to audition a couple times a year, he takes his modeling seriously while still having fun with it.

A man of two careers, Collier’s passion still lies with education. “Teaching is my main job and it’s also much more fun, but I think I’ll still continue hand modeling as long as I keep getting offers,” he said.

 

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