Examiner.com: Shantel VanSanten Is One Sytlish Lady!

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VanSanten at the Jill Stuart Collection Feb 15-AP Evan Agostini

One Tree Hill's Shantel VanSanten went back to her modeling roots this week as she graced New York's Merecedez-Benz Fashion Week collections.

The 24-old beauty posed for photographers at the Jill Stuart, Diane Von Furstenburg, and alice + olivia shows, were she was seen catching up with fellow Tree Hill co-star Sophia Bush, who also hit the presentations at Bryant Park this week.

The run-way shows can be seen as a trip down memory lane for VanSanten, as she started her career as a model in her native state of Texas. “I modeled from the time I was 15 until I was 20”, said VanSanten, who added while she never wanted to make a career out of modeling, she was grateful to have done it at the time. “..When I lived in Texas it's what kept me up float..kept me in acting classes, and helped. I was really fortunate to be able to model for the time being”, VanSanten discussed during our interview last month.

VanSanten plays a photographer on One Tree Hill, which is not too far from what the actress originally intended on doing. “I was going to school for photojournalism. I thought I wanted to travel where there's foreign crisis's and make people aware of it”, she said on what her plans had been during college.

“When I was in the eighth grade, I wrote this huge long paper about how I had no idea what I was gonna do with my life, but that I wanted to make a difference and touch even if it was like one person's life...inspire them”, said VanSanten, who is happy that what she does now does reach people. “..being on a television show and having so many fans is something that I've never experienced before and it's really neat when they come up to you and are like that storyline is amazing and really spoke to me in my life, and it's really cool. I really enjoy it”, VanSanten on her experience with One Tree Hill and its fans.

One Tree Hill fans will get a chance to meet Shantel VanSanten this weekend in Wilmington, NC, as she has signed on to take part in the 'Celebrity Autograph Fund-raiser'. She will sign autographs for donations towards the 'Officer Down Memorial Wall' to be built in Wilmington honoring the city's fallen police officers.

Looks like VanSanten's eighth grade paper was right on target when she said she wanted to do things that would help others.

Via : http://www.examiner.com/x-22650-One-Tree-Hill-Examiner~y2010m2d16-Shantel-VanSanten-Is-One-Sytlish-Lady?cid=email-this-article