COS: Axinia Clauss

Axinia Clauss is a foreign exchange student who is a German citizen. She is from Frankfurt, Germany. She is hardworking and dedicated to achieving her goals. She loves how different the environment of the United States is compared to Germany. 

She loves how the United States has treated her. She says, “America is very welcoming and has given me a lot of new opportunities.”

Axinia is taking rigorous courses, all AICE, and AP. She is in the Science National Honors Society and National Honors Society. 

Axinia speaks three different languages such as German, English, and Spanish. “The other languages I have learned, such as Russian, aren’t as fluent, so I would not count them,” says Axinia.

During her personal time, she tutors students in Germany and is very committed to helping them succeed. She stays up late tutoring students due to the six-hour time difference. Tutoring allows her to step out and think differently of how a student would need help comprehending an explanation.

She also balances out tutoring with traveling, studying, staying active, and playing tennis. 

Axinia’s all-time interest is traveling. Just being able to travel and see different cities and cultures teaches her a lot. “Every time I see a different place, I remember once again how important it is to study languages. Traveling just gives me an indescribable feeling,” says Axinia. 

COVID-19 has been a huge obstacle for Axinia. In Germany, everything was on lockdown and there was a vaccination mandate that was coming. In school, every morning, there was a mandatory COVID Antigen Test. Europe as a whole has stuck to these rules and it made it impossible within the last year. She only got to travel to Italy in 2021.

Coming into the United States, she was required to take a COVID test. She was grateful that it was all it took to get away and truly appreciates the freedom of living in Florida.

Axinia would love to attend either the University of Columbia or the University of Cornell and plans to have a Bachelor of Science in Political Science and a Bachelor of Arts in Spanish. 

She aspires to be a lawyer because she looks up to her mom, who is a lawyer. Ever since 2019, she won many debate tournaments in Germany and that got her thinking about practicing something that allows her to debate. In Germany, she started taking dual-enrollment courses and took a Civil Law class. She loved the concept of it, but Civil Law is not her first choice.

After watching the TV series Suits and constantly reading the Harvard Business School Magazine, she knew that she wanted to pursue Corporate Law. She prepares to be a future lawyer by reading books about law and talking to her mother about individual problems and challenges across the globe, too.