About
River An


Peddie School 27’


The definition of art escapes most artists today and those who came before us. I have long held the belief that art is anything created with intention, and anything that could be interpreted with intention. Rather than confining art within a neat description, I live every day trying to spread the intention that art requires. I move across disciplines (singing, acting, writing, and drawing) to celebrate both human instinct and interpretation as I embrace art. Art has taught me that to create is to listen, not only to discern between sound but also to silence, to what resists expression. This same attention guides my interest in psychology and law, where I explore human behavior in its most concentrated form in practice and how it reveals both the fragility and resilience of human beings. I believe justice, like art, requires the courage to confront contradictions and to honor what is difficult to name. Whether in performance, scholarship, or advocacy, I strive to give space to what is often overlooked. My work, whether artistic or academic, is a search for how the truth can be not only known but also felt.

Musical Theatre
Vocal Performance  
- Performer

SEPTEMBER 2023 – PRESENT

  • Cast as Fiona in the freshman-only production of Shrek early in my first year, gaining experience leading a stage production.

  • Selected as the only sophomore with a major role—Gloria Thorpe in Damn Yankees—in a musical typically led by upperclassmen.

  • Serve as a solo vocalist for chapel services, alumni memorials, school ceremonies, and as lead vocalist for the 2024 & 2025 Blair Day band.

  • Member of Peddie Singers (10th–11th) and Treblemakers (9th), strengthening vocal technique and ensemble discipline.

  • Upcoming (Feb 2026): Ensemble member in Mamma Mia, expanding training in dance-based musical theatre.
Peddie Student DEI 
Leadership Council 
- SDEI Leader

MAY 2025 – PRESENT
  • Serve as a long-term DEI Council Leader, acting as a liaison between the DEI office and students while partnering with affinity groups to foster dialogue and lead community-wide workshops.

  • Having moved across the world several times, I recognize how identity is shaped by environment, motivating my work to deepen surface-level awareness into open, respectful conversation.

  • Create culturally responsive events and facilitate spaces that elevate underrepresented voices and encourage honest sharing of lived experiences.

  • Practice active listening and impartial mediation to guide conflicts toward compassionate solutions.

  • Hope to continue DEI-focused leadership in college through student organizations, classroom collaboration, and academic work that values diverse perspectives.
Peddie Arts Citizenship Committee
– Theater Representative

 2024 – PRESENT
  • Represent the theatre community in school-wide arts planning, advocating for student perspectives and contributing to decisions that shape campus arts programming.

  • Frame theatre as a space for civic dialogue, using performance to explore empathy, identity, and social responsibility within the school community.

  • Collaborate closely with faculty and student leaders to promote inclusive, accessible, and community-centered arts initiatives that connect artistic practice with shared values.

Visual Storytelling 
Amphion 
Literary Art Magazine 
- Artist and Editor

SEPTEMBER 2023 – PRESENT

  • Selected as the 2024 Cover Artist for Peddie’s 100-year-old literary/art anthology.

  • Became a layout editor, curating multimodal submissions and mentoring younger contributors.

  • Created award-winning artwork recognized by the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards (Silver Key; Honorable Mentions).

  • Developed a personal practice rooted in anatomy study, color theory, digital and traditional media, and iterative experimentation.Will lead Amphion as a senior, integrating visual-narrative design with independent work in storytelling and memory.

Peddie Creative Writing 
Signature Program 
- Participant

SEPTEMBER 2025 – MAY 2027

  • Peddie’s Creative Writing Signature Experience Program allows selected students to dig deep into various works across literary history and utilize their research to aid them in their original work, which they polish through 2 years with their peers and their teacher.

  • Currently enrolled in the Peddie Creative Writing Signature Program, engaging in sustained study of literary works across historical periods while producing original creative pieces in poetry, genre fiction, and graphic narrative, refined through regular workshop discussion and revision.

  • Have created and submitted multiple original works to the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, actively participating in a small, discussion-driven creative cohort that fosters collaborative critique, artistic risk-taking, and measurable growth in voice and craft.

  • Will participate in an in-person creative writing summer program during junior year (2026), culminating in the development of a focused portfolio in a chosen genre and a public community reading as the program’s capstone.

  • Aspiring English major and future law student, using creative writing as rigorous training in precision, rhetoric, and narrative clarity, and as a foundation for understanding language as both an artistic and persuasive tool.

Law & Psychology Research on Juvenile Vulnerability 
– Researcher

JULY 2025 – OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2025

  • Completed a 20-page interdisciplinary research paper under the mentorship of clinical psychologist Dr. Aliza Spruch-Feiner, examining how linguistically underdeveloped or impaired juveniles face disproportionate vulnerability within the juvenile justice system.

  • Integrated psychological and legal frameworks to analyze how language limitations, trauma histories, and developmental factors interact with interrogation practices and courtroom procedures.

  • Continuing to expand the project through the collection of original survey data with Centiment to assess adolescents’ understanding of the Miranda warnings and the gap between legal rights in theory and in practice.
Columbia University High School Law Institute (HSLI) 
– Student Scholar

Fall 2025 – Spring 2026

  • While conducting independent research on juvenile justice and interrogation law, sought more practice-based insight into how legal principles function beyond theory; applied to and was accepted into the High School Law Institute (HSLI), a selective program hosted by Columbia Law School.

  • Participate in weekly Saturday sessions led by current Columbia Law students, engaging with real cases, criminal procedure, and constitutional analysis through discussion-driven coursework.

  • Gain firsthand exposure to legal practice through special lectures and sessions with legal professionals, including judges, allowing me to connect my research on juvenile vulnerability to real-world legal decision-making.
Princeton CIEL Senior Center
Intergenerational Musical Volunteer

MARCH 2025 – PRESENT

  • Visit the Princeton Senior Center twice a month to sing and spend time with senior residents, initially volunteering as a performer before the experience shifted as music opened space for conversation and memory.

  • Often remain after performances to speak with residents about their lives, relationships, and the people they miss, as songs prompt personal stories that extend beyond performance.

  • Came to recognize how easily these memories can disappear if not preserved, reshaping my understanding of music as a bridge for intergenerational communication and emotional connection.
Independent Oral History & Visual Storytelling Project
- Founder/Artist/Interviewer

JUNE 2025 – PRESENT

  • Independently designed and initiated a storytelling project building directly on my volunteer work at the senior center, grounded in sustained relationships and ongoing conversation with elders.

  • Preserve elders’ memories through interviews, illustration, written reflection, and audio recording, translating fleeting moments into lasting, accessible forms.

  • Approach the project as both an artistic and civic practice, examining whose stories are remembered or overlooked and connecting creative documentation to broader questions of representation, justice, and human dignity.
Peddie Varsity 
Girls Golf - Athlete

SEPTEMBER 2023 – PRESENT

  • I am a player in Peddie’s Varsity Girls Golf team.

  • Golf has helped me become more resilient, more patient, and more team-minded throughout the hardships I’ve experienced living in a boarding school. Through golf, I can understand that my endurance are equally vital.

  • Once, when I came down with a cold and could not play in a match, my coach told me how the team was not the same without my presence, and that my sense of humor and ability to lighten the mood was just as important as my efforts to improve at the sport itself. I’ve come to see that humor, strong bonds between team members, and a sense of balance in a competitive environment just as essential as technical skill. 

  • Golf is the only sport that has stayed with me through every chapter of my life. Even if I never play competitively again, I know I’ll return to it, because it’s given me a critical experience in how to be a productive member of a team.

PRESENTATIONS & PUBLIC SCHOLARSHIP
  •        November 22, 2025

  • New Jersey Student Ethics Conference (NJSEC 2025) - Presenter

    Selected as school representative to present original research:
    “Why Do Miranda Rights Fail to Protect Young People?”

    Delivered analysis on false confessions, linguistic barriers, and legal reform proposals.

Languages

  • Korean (mother tongue, native fluency)

  • English (second language, native fluency)


Honors & Awards

  • Scholastic Art & Writing Awards

    Silver Key (2024, Painting)
    Honorable Mention (2025, Painting, Mixed Media)

  • Amphion Literary & Art Magazine – Selected Cover Artist (2024)

  • Peddie 156th & 157th Declamation Contest – Honorable Mention (2024, 2025)

  • Peddie Talent Show – 2nd Place (2024, Vocal Performance)

  • MAPL Golf Championship – 1st Place Team (2025)



© RIVER AN 2005