Riverwood student

from Buckhead Reporter - November 2021

by Rough Draft Atlanta: Atlanta Intown, Reporter Newspapers

Volunteer of the Year

Spotlight: Riverwood junior excels in art, music

BY BOB PEPALIS

Aspiring architect and designer Carrington Bryan, a junior at Riverwood International Charter School, plans to follow in the footsteps of his artistic family.

“Just continuing that tradition, and just doing what I love through my career is really important to me,” he said.

Bryan is a magnet student zoned for Westlake High who lives in South Fulton. But he attended Ridgeview Middle School and wanted to continue his edu-

cation at Riverwood. He’s currently an International Baccalaureate candidate and has been involved in Beta Club, Student Government Association, marching and concert bands, Black Student Union and the National Art Honor Society.

Bryan enjoys expressing himself through art and architecture, especially fashion design.

“I have a fondness of just different fashion styles from past decades, and producing and creating,” said Bryan, who has a T-shirt business.

He also paints and draws using graphite pen and ink. Bryan just finished an art project that he said demonstrates the complexity of being in a relaxed state of mind.

“The thing that I like about art is that I can really express emotions I feel that I can’t put into words. And I love how vulnerable and expressive I can get with that,” he said.

Music is another art form he loves, having played the saxophone since sixth grade. He doesn’t let a day go by without listening to music. His musical, artistic family piqued his interest in band. He follows in his grandfather’s footsteps in the marching bands at Riverwood and is a member of the concert band.

“It’s really fun because I meet new people. I play good music,” Bryan said.

He appreciates that Riverwood allows students to create clubs, which results in something available for everybody. “Honestly, when I was signing up for these clubs I was really overwhelmed by all my choices,” he said.

One of those groups is the Black Student Union.

“We have this sense of relatability. And we can just like relate on how we grew up, different things like that, or culture or food. And it’s just really fun to talk about and discuss different issues and things that we like about our community,” he said.

As the president of the junior class, he’s also heavily involved in the Student Government Association.

“We’ve been trying to clear our name from just being a party planning committee,” he said.

They are working on advocacy, including Bryan’s goal of providing an after school bus for magnet students so they can participate in school activities and still have a ride home.