Until recently, Bill and Marcie Ferris were only remotely acquainted with American Idol, the wildly-popular television talent show.

Then one of their students became a contestant. Anoop Desai? Ring a bell?

Desai, a UNC Chapel Hill graduate student, is one of the 13 finalists on the television show, which culls through a sea of wannabe singers to find true diamonds in the rough. If you win, you get a recording contract and get to bask in the adulation of bazillions of squealing, adolescent teens.

For Desai, a win in this high-profile competition would be a huge break. But he doesn't need it to be a success, argues Bill Ferris, a UNC professor who served as Desai's advisor when the Chapel Hill native was an undergraduate American Studies major studying folklore and banging out a 60-page honors thesis on the impact barbecue has on southern culture.

Ferris took some time to chat with the News & Observer about his impressions of one of his favorite students.

You’ve known Anoop for quite some time.

“I know him as well as any student I've worked with here. I've known him since he was a freshman. He's a very intelligent, outgoing person. Very sensitive and thoughtful in what he says and does in his classes. He stood out right away.”

How so?