And then there was one: Texas State students vie in MTV contest

By Cheryl Jones
University News Service
July 6, 2007

McCall Adams, a 24-year-old senior from Austin, started out as one of three Texas State University-San Marcos students vying for the chance to be a correspondent at the MTV Video Music Awards in a contest sponsored by MTVU and Neutrogena.

As of this week, she’s the only Bobcat still in the picture. MTVU notified the pre-physician assistant senior earlier this week that she’d made it into the final three after online voting was tabulated.

“If I were to win this position I would be extremely thankful. I love to experience new things in my life and I definitely think this would qualify as one,” Adams said. “I would like my schoolmates to know that I would be honored to represent our university at the VMAs. I think I would do an excellent job,” Adams said.

Adams’ major has little in common with the correspondent position, but she said feels it will only lead to more opportunities and new experiences.

“I feel that winning this could give me an opportunity to experience something completely different before going to get my masters as a Physician Assistant,” she said. “I lived in Italy for a year, and it made me learn so much about myself. I think this could be an experience that I could learn from and it could possibly open up another chapter in my life.”

In addition to Adams, Texas State was also represented among the 10 finalists by Tiffany Pelt, a 20-year-old pre-mass communication major from Lexington and Michelle Thoreson, a 22-year-old communication studies major from Austin.

Having three different contestants from the same school in the running for such a national contest is unusual, said MTVU spokesman Jason Rzepka.

“We do calls for submissions often for various opportunities and it is rare to see three finalists from the same school,” Rzepka said.  “There must be something down there in the water.” 

According to MTVU, the winner of the voting will be flown to Las Vegas and be a correspondent for MTVU at the Video Music Awards. She will be able to chat and gather reports with stars and musicians that will later be aired on MTVU. Select elements may be used on air for the MTV version of the VMAs or on MTV.com. The VMAs are currently scheduled to take place Sept. 9.

MTVU is MTV’s 24-hour college channel. It reaches college students all across the nation. Contests are held frequently to find the best musicians, filmmakers, writers, digital pioneers and activists on campus, which is what this VMA contest is.

This particular competition began last spring when MTVU came to Texas State to interview various students for the correspondent position; it wasn’t until just recently that the contestants were notified of their top ten status.

Each of the top 10 ladies have a profile featured on Neutrogena and MTVU’s web page describing why they should be the VMAs’ correspondent as well as other interesting facts.

This is the first time this chance has been available and representatives from MTVU are excited about the opportunities the correspondent position will open for the winner.

“It’s great exposure and we find all the time that when we showcase students on our channel it tends to open up doors to further their careers in a number of different ways so we are always on the lookout for the next great VJ or someone who can contribute to our programming,” Rzepka said.

For now, it is too early to say whether or not this contest will become an annual occurrence but the possibility is under discussion at MTVU.

“We are definitely very encouraged by the submissions and we are looking forward to seeing whom the audience connects with and whom they select to capitalize on this great opportunity,” Rzepka said.

Vote for your favorite at http://www.neutrogena.mtvu.com.