Clarissa, a junior, is a top student at Valley High School in West Des Moines, Iowa.  She is in the colorguard for marching band, plays French horn in symphony band and orchestra, and is the pianist for jazz band.  Last year Valley's outstanding music program won the first Grammy ever awarded to a high school.  At church she is involved in the youth choir and the handbell choir.

Her hobbies include downhill skiing and traveling around the world.   She enjoys visiting new places and meeting people from other cultures.  She has also learned a lot from international guests who have stayed in her home.

Family is very important to Clarissa.  Her mother and step-dad were both widowed shortly before she was born.. When they married, she became the youngest of nine children in a blended family.  She looks forward to several special occasions each year when all of the family is together.  For her that includes Grandma and Grandpa Henry, Mom and Dad, 5 sisters, 3 brothers, 5 in-laws, 6 nieces, 3 nephews and one more due in April.

Clarissa's first showing experience began when she was four years old in the stick horse class with "Emily".  She went on to leadline with her sister Sarah's horse,  FF Centerpiece (Snickers).  For her seventh birthday she received her own horse, Material Girl (Matty).  She showed Matty for a year in leadline before making the move to 10 & Under Walk Trot.  When Clarissa was nine, she received CH Style Points (Prince) as a Christmas present.  She showed Prince until her conclusion of Walk-and-Trot.  The following year she rode her sister's horse, CH The Karankawa Chief in 10 & Under Equitation.  Chief helped Clarissa make the transition to cantering and they had a successful year together.

To make the move into 11 - 13 Equitation, Clarissa found Miss Kitty SHF.  She showed Kitty through three successful years and ended with a Top Ten finish in the UPHA Junior Finals.   The following year Clarissa drove her mother's road pony, Sky High.  Becoming accustomed to the speed of the road ponies, she rode Texas Tommy to reserve in the AHHS Youth Medallion Road Pony Under Saddle Finals.  She also rode in equitation on Catchet.  They finished the year as UPHA Challenge Cup Chapter 8 Champions.  The following year was spent working with her new 3-gaited horse, He's Wonderful and Wild.   While he was prepared at home, she showed her mother's western horse, CH Snow Summit, in western pleasure and country pleasure classes.

In '99 she has successfully shown CH Calista (Callie) in 3-gaited pleasure.  With wins at Madison, Midwest, Louisville and Kentucky Fall Classic they are looking forward to the American Royal.  Training with Lynda and Andy since November 1998 has been such fun, both in and out of the ring.  The rewards of their friendship, dedication, and working together have been far beyond her dreams.  From Louisville she brought home The Calendar Girl, a young gaited mare she looks forward to showing next season.

She is undecided about her plans after high school.  Her interests for now seem to be mostly in engineering or computer science.  One of the colleges she has been looking at is Univeristy of Wisconsin at Madison.  It's biggest attraction, however, may be its proximity to Hollow Haven.