Victoria “Tori” Clark, 17, is the daughter of Jimmie and Cathy Nelson.
She is a junior at Sweet Home High School. She has two siblings, Brenton Clark, 20, and Maddilynn “Maddy” Greenwalt, 5.
Clark appreciates the beauty and loving community in Sweet Home, she said. It’s not something every small town has.
“I decided to join the Sportsman’s Holiday Court because, for as long as I can remember, I have wanted to be a Sportsman’s princess,” Clark said. “Also, because I love getting involved in my hometown community. I also want scholarships.”
She has participated in events held by Harvest Christian Center, including the Back 2 School Bash and Easter celebration.
She loves volunteering at Sweet Home Emergency Ministries Friday mornings.
Clark is a part of the Cooking Club, catering class and Symphonic Choir at SHHS. She volunteers around the school, serving at banquets, for example. She has volunteered at Wiley Creek and visited with the elderly and her grandmother there.
Clark is a member of the Singing Christmas Tree.
She works at A&W as a cook and a waitress.
After high school, she plans to move to Portland to attend the Oregon Culinary Institute. She will study there for two years, then transfer to the University of Portland to earn a degree in business.
“Hopefully, one day I can come back and open my own restaurant,” Clark said.
As a member of the court, she can serve the Sweet Home community by “being a good role model to the kids, to share joy and happiness through smiles and encouragements passing by in every day life,” she said. “I think I can make the difference by brightening someone’s mood. I hope that by smiling at them, it brightens their day if they had a bad start.”
Clark hopes to show the little girls, who once were her, that they can actually achieve their dreams and become a princess, she said, “just like mine did the day I got the call saying, ‘Congratulations. We have a spot open. It’s yours if you want it.’”