She, along with about 100 other students nationwide, first sent in video submissions at the start of term two that introduced themselves and their families, along with some of their passions.
In her video submission, Aroa sang to the Korean song Ditto, spoke some te reo, showed a montage of her horses, and bucket drummed with her friend.
After that, 50 students were selected for interviews, which were conducted in Kāpiti, Tauranga, and Auckland last month.
The interviews focused on what the students’ passions were, and in her interview Aroa said she sang for the film crew and showed them more pictures of her horses.
Aroa Al Masri has been selected for a role in Korean TV show After School: School Trip.
The judges were obviously impressed, and out of those 50 students, only five were chosen for roles — Aroa being one of them.
Because she lives rurally and doesn’t have many services at home, Aroa found out she got the role on a video call at 11pm on a hill outside her house, and she couldn’t have been more excited.
On the video call, she was asked various questions, including whether she would eat live octopus, before being told she had the role.
She has had a keen interest in Korean culture for a long time which was sparked by her mother’s work at a Korean college.
“I’ve always wanted to go to Korea.”
Aroa said she listens to a lot of K-pop (Korean popular music) and watches a lot of Korean drama shows.
“I taught myself [to speak Korean] through watching K-dramas.”
The film crew will be returning to Kāpiti on July 28 to film Aroa in her home and at school, and on August 20 she will head to South Korea, along with the four other students and Kāpiti College’s director of international marketing Paul Western, who was asked to lead the group of students.
Aroa and Western will first fly to Auckland, where Aroa will meet the other students – on camera.
