Kaaawa resident Katelin Lindgard has suddenly hit the big time.

Last year she was one of the neighborhood kids entering high school and wondering what life had in store.

Suddenly she’s a hit on the international modeling scene, with recent high profile appearances in New York, Milan, and Paris.

Here’s what happened. She took a modeling class. Then early this year, she participated in iPOP!, the International Presentation of Performers, an event in Los Angeles where modeling and acting schools send their top students to strut their stuff hoping to be “discovered” by agents.

Long story short: She was named “Ms. iPop!” and signed for a photo shoot in New York.

We heard about all this one day when we ran into her mom. Yeah, right, I thought, another modeling school hype. We’ll see.

Shows how much I know about such things.

In a flurry of activity, Katelin has taken off as Keke Lindgard, one of the hot new names on the international modeling scene, flying off to New York, Milan, and Paris to appear on behalf of top names like Guchi, Prada, and Tommy Hilfiger.

The Fashion Spot blog describes her in glowing terms:

Time to have another look at Keke, Wilhelmina’s girl who caught the fashion girl by storm this season. After some sensational debuts in New York at the beginning of the month, she keeps the level sky high in Milan (with Elite) adding a few of the most coveted shows on her booking-list. We were first informed that she walked Prada at the end of last week. We were also told we should better wait till the end to drop a few more lines. For obvious reasons. What will be will be and Keke walked another bunch of high level shows since last Friday. Count Gucci, Pucci and Dolce & Gabanna among her latest breakthroughs. The magic works and the formula is as simple as amazing. Take a soft yet special girl, with a short yet special name and you’ve got a brand new phenomenon starting with a phenomenal season.

Browse through collection of recent photos.

That’s a long way from the 150-student elementary school in Kaaawa in just a few years.

Way to go, Keke!