It is not every day that someone meets a celebrity, so when it happens, many do not know how to control their emotions. Often times, people freeze from shock when running into a celebrity, or at the opposite end of these encounters, overshare and reveal everything that comes to mind. There is not one right way to meet a celebrity, but there certainly is a wrong way. Students at St. Paul Academy and Summit School recall the times they have met celebrities.

Senior Emily Schlinger remembers looking forward to spending time with her family in Turks and Caicos over one spring break, and being shocked when she met social media influencer Cameron Dallas.

“I really was not expecting to see anyone besides my family while I was on the trip, so when I saw Cameron Dallas on the beach I couldn’t believe it,” Schlinger said.

Knowing that Dallas met hundreds of fans every week, Schlinger knew that she had to make herself stand out against the other young fans.

“He seemed really nice when I saw him talking to other fans on the beach, but I could tell that he did not want to only surround himself with his fans. After realizing that, I went up to him and introduced myself, and asked him for his name even though I knew it already. He seemed shocked that I didn’t know who he was,” Schlinger said.

By mixing friendliness and a bit of a lie, Schlinger was able to hang out with Dallas throughout her vacation.

“It was really fun, and he was super nice. The most intimidating part of all of it was that he [Dallas] had a bodyguard with him at all times, but that ended up being a cool experience,” Schlinger said.

Similar to Schlinger’s celebrity encounter, senior Nina Ciresi was not expecting to meet a celebrity when she went out for the day. Ciresi remembers going to the mall with her younger cousin, and suddenly running into actor Casey Cott, famously known for his role as Kevin Keller on CW’s Riverdale. 

“It was actually so crazy when I saw him because I had no idea what to do. I really wanted to talk to him because I love him on Riverdale, but I also wanted to respect his privacy since he probably just wanted to shop at the mall,” Ciresi said.

Finally getting the courage to go up to Cott, Ciresi and her cousin asked for a picture.

“As soon as I went up to him, it felt weird because I had watched him on TV so many times before,” Ciresi said.

Besides accidentally running into a celebrity, a popular way to meet celebrities is to go to a “meet and greet” that the celebrity will be attending.

Ninth grader Sevy Hayes did just that when she went to famous YouTube star Adelaine Morin‘s meet and greet at the Mall of America.

“It was so cool meeting her in person because I had been watching her videos for more than 2 years,” Hayes said.

Not knowing what to expect at the meet and greet, Hayes was understandably nervous.

“I was really nervous at the beginning of the event, but once I started talking to other fans in line to meet Adelaine, I felt a lot better. It also helped a lot that Adelaine was super nice when I finally met her,” Hayes said.

Junior Griffin Thissen recalls the time that he met Minnesota Timberwolves player Andrew Wiggins at an NBA meet and greet.

“I had only ever seen basketball players from the sidelines so it was a really cool experience when I finally got to meet Andrew Wiggins,” Thissen said.

Senior Mia Litman vividly remembers the time she met Miley Cyrus at a Hannah Montana/Jonas Brothers concert.

“Meeting Miley was really spontaneous actually since I didn’t even have meet and greet tickets. I went to the concert with one of my close friends, just expecting to see Miley perform, but while my friend and her mom and I were walking around before the concert, we saw a long line outside of Miley’s dressing room and assumed it was for people that had meet and greet tickets. My friend’s mom saw another mom cutting the wristband that indicated someone had purchased a meet a greet ticket off their daughter’s wrist, so she asked for it before the mom threw it away. All of a sudden, we were in line to meet Miley,” Litman said.

Once in line, Litman began growing nervous while she thought about meeting Cyrus.

“Because it was so sudden, I remember feeling nervous and then meeting Miley like a second later. It was really fun meeting her and I kind of remember her laughing at me and my friend because she could tell that we weren’t actually supposed to be meeting her since my friend’s mom was basically just holding the wristband that we got onto my wrist,” Litman said.

After meeting Cyrus and enjoying the concert, Litman recalls a new found excitement when she began telling her friends that she had met Cyrus.

“I remember bragging a lot about meeting Miley originally after the concert, and then also posting the picture I got with Miley on Instagram so that I could flex again,” Litman said.