HIGH LIFE: A WEEKLY FORUM FOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS : Model Foothill Senior Adds Modeling to Resume

As if early acceptance to Princeton, a full scholarship to the NASA Space Camp program and enrollment in Joffrey Ballet’s Advanced Training Program isn’t enough to keep Foothill High School senior Clarissa Ngo content, she has just added to her list of achievements the title of first runner-up in the Miss Teen California Scholarship Pageant.

The Hyatt Los Angeles hosted the 91 contestants Feb. 19-21. They competed for college scholarships and modeling contracts on the basis of academic achievement, visual poise, communication skills and personality.

Eight finalists were chosen to compete for the crown. Jessica Morales of Carson High School won the pageant.

Ngo, 18, received a seven-week scholarship to John Robert Power’s Modeling School. She also shared $6,000 of scholarship money with the three other runners-up.

“It was a good experience because it gave me confidence,” Ngo said. “I had to get up in front of 800 people and answer impromptu questions, which really improved my confidence in myself.”

Ngo also received the Teen Image Award, which recognizes one girl in the pageant who personifies “the ideal teen-ager.”

Although she has been accepted at Princeton, she is waiting until next month to decide which college she will attend in the fall.

By then, she will have heard which of the 12 other colleges she has applied to--including Harvard, Stanford, Yale and Brown--has accepted her.

She encourages all students to pursue pageants and scholarship opportunities.

“You don’t have to have a crown to be a winner,” she said.