TOP TEENS CARISSA WU
Carissa Wu of Potomac broke into the pageant circuit just as she was entering high school. A committed dancer and pianist, she was used to performing onstage. Still, she felt that pageants would open up a new path of self-expression. With her mother’s help, Carissa enlisted a pageant coach, and the titles started rolling in. Most recently, Carissa won the 2016 Miss USA Ambassador Teen competition in Tampa, Florida, which led to travel and volunteer opportunities. “I gained a new sense of confidence and I found my voice,” says Carissa, 17, a senior at Winston Churchill High School in Potomac. “My whole life I was trying to be the normal American girl, not the nerdy Chinese girl. But I came to realize that my Chinese heritage is what has shaped me and my passions.” Carissa has performed Chinese folklore dance since age 3, appearing with her troupe at the Kennedy Center during her freshman year. She’s also studying ballet and contemporary dance. As a pianist, she’s fond of traditional Chinese music, and played at New York’s Carnegie Hall in 2016 after winning a national competition. She has a 4.0 GPA and is a National Merit Scholarship semifinalist. She also instills her love of math and science in others. Her freshman year, Carissa and three friends founded Ladies in Training, an ongoing nonprofit after-school program for girls at Potomac’s Beverly Farms Elementary School that offers activities that encourage math, science and leadership-building skills. Tiffany Kaufman, Carissa’s school counselor, says she marvels at how the teenager excels in both science and the arts, juggles a jam-packed schedule, and does so with poise and grace. “She has a calm demeanor, but she really goes after what she wants,” Kaufman says. An aspiring chemical engineer, Carissa will attend Harvard University in the fall. ■
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MARCH/APRIL 2018 | BETHESDAMAGAZINE.COM
TEEN PHOTOS EXCEPT ANDY HARRIS WERE TAKEN AT THE ACADEMY OF THE HOLY CROSS; ANDY HARRIS WAS PHOTOGRAPHED AT ST. ANDREW’S EPISCOPAL SCHOOL
Senior, Winston Churchill High School