|
|
|||
|
|
|||
Talented Tucson High teen reaches for it all
Sergey Shayevich/ Staff Isabel Clamons is fluent in French and is a science whiz who wants to study meterology at the UA. Not only that, she’s been a belly dancer and now studies jazz dancing.
by Irene Fischler Isabel Clamons may be the only high school student in Arizona who can correctly identify the location of a town named Anges. Clamons knows the town well because she spent 10 months in Anges, France, as an exchange student. A senior at Tucson High School, Clamons now speaks French fluently. “I was nominated to be a student ambassador to Israel by my teachers, but I wanted to experience French culture and have a chance to learn the language,” Clamons said. In Clamons’ sophomore year, she heard a representative speak about the foreign exchange program. She submitted an application and was accepted. “In the airport on the way home, my supervisor told me I was the best representative of America she’d ever encountered,” Clamons said. “I was honored.” Clamons’ experience in France was a valuable one because she discovered her love of languages. But languages don’t constitute her only interest. “My No. 2 passion would have to be science,” Clamons said. “I’m interested in studying both French and atmospheric science at the University of Arizona.” Recently, Clamons won one first-place and two third-place awards at the Southern Arizona Science and Engineering Fair for her project on lightning density and elevation. In school, Clamons is the president of both the French Club and the Calculus Club; out of school, she is a dancer. Clamons took up belly dancing for six months before she went to France. She had to quit because of the high cost of belly-dancing lessons in France, and instead took jazz-dance lessons while living in Anges. “Taking jazz in France was a good experience because it helped me learn the French words for body parts,” recalled Clamons. Her overall high school experience was good for Clamons, who said, “I found out that there are so many opportunities in high school, you just have to find all the stuff that brings out your own special talents.”
Irene Fischler is a senior at Canyon Del Oro High School.
|