Meet Sondra Clark "Girl Power! is believing you can do whatever you set your mind to. Girls can do so much! Just set a goal and do it!" - Sondra Clark Occupation: Student, author, motivational speaker, and spokesperson Hometown: Bellingham, WA Age: 12 years old Hobbies: Soccer, reading Role Models: Her parents and J.K. Rowling As athletes across the world are training for the 2002 Winter Olympics, 12-year-old Sondra Clark is getting ready for her big Olympic moment, too. Sondra will become the youngest person to carry the Olympic torch in its journey across America to Salt Lake City, Utah. "I'm incredibly excited!" Sondra said. "I even get to keep the torch." The torch is being passed off from person to person in towns across America like a relay race. Each runner runs 0.2 miles. Sondra's mom read an article about the torch passing in the newspaper and wrote a 100-word essay on why Sondra should be picked. It was probably hard for Sondra's mom to use just 100 words to describe her talented daughter. In her 12 years, Sondra has done some amazing things. She has written two published books, she has gone to Africa to help poor children, and she has traveled around giving motivational speeches to school assemblies, church groups, and conferences. Sondra was 8 years old when she wrote her first book. Her mother has written eight books and Sondra decided she wanted to write one, too. "My mom said I had to write about something I knew about," Sondra said. "I've always loved arts and crafts so I decided to write a book about that." Sondra wrote her first book, "Craft Fun with Sondra-Over 55 Arts and Crafts Projects," in about 2 months. She wrote two pages a day over her winter break and then one page a week after that. She wrote her second book, "Wearable Art with Sondra," when she was 9 years old. She recently signed a contract for a third book about setting goals and achieving dreams. It's due out in August of 2002. "My family and I have never watched much TV. Instead, I would just do crafts. I've been using a hot glue gun since I was 3 years old!" Not only does Sondra write books and do crafts, but she is also a spokesperson for Childcare International. The organization sent her to Africa over Christmas in 2000, and now she speaks at churches, raising funds for the orphans with AIDS she met. She's raised $30,000 so far. Despite her busy schedule, Sondra still finds time to read and play soccer like a normal kid. She says she hopes to become a marine biologist someday. "My advice for girls my age is to set goals and keep them," Sondra said. "A lot of people set goals and forget about them. It's important to pick a goal that you really want and then stay focused."