Sports Illustrated model Camille Bowers is bring brains and beauty to the Swimsuit Issue this year.
The 22-year-won is currently enrolled as a full-time student at Vanderbilt University, where she is working on a degree in neuroscience — but this week, she’s took a break from classes to pose for a very sexy beach photoshoot in Turks and Caicos.
A finalist in this year’s #SwimSearch competition, the Umatilla, Florida native ditched the books and whipped out the bikinis for several sexy swimwear shots — which the magazine is already teasing online ahead of the magazine’s spring release.
Camille Bowers, 22, poses for the upcoming Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue
She is a full-time neuroscience student at Vanderbilt University (pictured with Jamea Lynne Byrd)
She is currently in Turks and Caicos for a photoshoot
The stunning Florida native is one of six finalists in this year’s #SwimSearch
This is the first time Clarissa (pictured with Jamea) is posing in the magazine
Clarissa is also a former Miss World contestant, having competed for the US in 2017
Clarissa is no ordinary science nerd. Though she’s studying neuroscience and is also the head of a postoperative patient care unit for the charitable organization Healing the Children, she’s also a former Miss World contestant, having competed for the US in 2017.
She’s also signed to Wilhelmina models.
Last year, the multi-hyphenate tried out for Sports Illustrated’s #SwimSearch, and now she’s made it to the top six finalists who will appear in the upcoming issue, when a winner will be crowned.
This week, she’s in Turks and Caicos posing up a storm for the issue, modeling several different swimwear looks.
On Wednesday, she excitedly showed off a Polaroid from her fitting, in which she’s wearing a tank top-like bikini top and high-waisted bottoms.
Meanwhile, editor MJ Day has shared several snaps of Clarissa by photographer Yu Tsai, including one of her in a teeny brown two-piece.
Paging doctor knockout! Clarissa is also the head of a postoperative patient care unit for the charitable organization Healing the Children
She can do it all! She is currently in school studying to become a doctor
Sports Illustrated and editor MJ Day shared several behind-the-scenes photos and videos today
Clarissa had a dance break with fellow model Jamea on the beach
The two looked like they were living it up in the sun and sand
Work it! Though it was her first time shooting for the magazine, she looks like a pro
Editor MJ Day bragged that ‘this is what a full time Vanderbilt University student who is working toward her premed in neuroscience looks like’
Clarissa’s shoot included several different swimsuits
Day bragged that ‘this is what a full time Vanderbilt University student who is working toward her premed in neuroscience looks like’.
‘This is also a woman who is a model that struggles to work in this industry because she isn’t “sample” size. SMH needless to say she blew all our circuits!’ she added.
In another shot, Clarissa wears an even tinier tan bikini top, her hair damp and her skin sun-kissed. She leans on the ground, posed up against fellow finalist Jamea Lynne Byrd.
The pair also posed together for a very smiley picture in the sun, each wearing matching orange one-pieces with Sports Illustrated Swim printed on the front.
The two stopped for a dance break, too, before Clarissa got down in the water in a skimpy thong bikini.
On Wednesday, she excitedly showed off a Polaroid from her fitting, in which she’s wearing a tank top-like bikini top and high-waisted bottoms
Clariss is also featured in a sexy close-up shot with a branded coconut
She appeared in several promotional videos sharing her excitement about the shoot
‘One of my goals in life is to never have to look back and say, “what if,”‘ Clarissa said
She and Jamea both modeled matching brown swimsuit for their sultry photoshoot
‘So thankful for this family and this amazing opportunity. Could not have had a better day,’ she said after the shoot
Not just bikinis! The model also swapped out bikinis for a branded one-piece at one point
Just two weeks ago, Clarissa gushed about being chosen for the final six.
‘When I heard that they were holding an open casting call, I knew I needed to be a part of it, or I would always wonder “what if.” And one of my goals in life is to never have to look back and say, “what if,”‘ she said.
‘I’ve admired SI Swimsuit‘s efforts to show the beauty of all women, regardless of shape, size, or skin color, for years,’ she added.
Reiterating that message in a video posted today, she added that she’s ‘so passionate about this.’
‘So thankful for this family and this amazing opportunity. Could not have had a better day,’ she said after the shoot.
Whoops! She revealed that when Sports Illustrated called her to tell her she was a finalist, she ignored the call twice
Antsy: She picked up the third time they called, as she was just about to start class — and had to sit through the class with the exciting news
Hair flip! Clarissa whips her hair as a gorgeous sunset paints the sky behind her
Being a finalist, she said, ‘means so much to me because I know it will mean so much more to other girls out there who are going to see it. And not just me, but all the other finalists’
‘We have different body shapes, height, age, skin tone, background — we all bring such different perspectives to the table,’ she said
She and Jamea goofed around in between shots, with Clarissa riding piggyback
Clarissa also spoke to Fox News this week about the opportunity, saying that she was walking to class when she got the call about being a finalist — and ignored it. Twice.
She picked up the third time and was thrilled to get the news — but still had to sit through a class where she was ‘jittering in my seat the entire time.’
Being a finalist, she said, ‘means so much to me because I know it will mean so much more to other girls out there who are going to see it. And not just me, but all the other finalists.
‘We have different body shapes, height, age, skin tone, background — we all bring such different perspectives to the table.’
Clarissa had been told in the past that she had to lose weight to be a model.
Clarissa had been told in the past that she had to lose weight to be a model
I remember being maybe 13 or 14 and standing in front of a casting panel. I was a size zero at the time,’ she recalled
In the competition! Clarissa Bowers is pictured walking the runway during the 2019 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Runway Show During Miami Swim Week
‘I’ve admired SI Swimsuit‘s efforts to show the beauty of all women, regardless of shape, size, or skin color, for years,’ she said
‘When I heard that they were holding an open casting call, I knew I needed to be a part of it, or I would always wonder “what if,” she said
‘I think it definitely had an impact on me, especially because I was so young when it happened. I remember being maybe 13 or 14 and standing in front of a casting panel. I was a size zero at the time,’ she recalled.
‘And then I had full grown adults tell me to my face that my hips were too big, or this jiggles when I walk. You can say to yourself, “I won’t take it personally.”
‘But it’s hard not to let those comments impact you, especially if you’re hearing such blunt comments about your body at such a young age when you’re not even grown fully into your body yet.’
Now, she has an agent who told her she’s ‘perfectly fine at whatever size’ she is.
‘That’s what really made me feel comfortable pursuing modeling again… I had someone in my corner,’ she said.