About
River An



Peddie School 27’


As a singer, actress, writer, and visual artist, I pursue presence, precision, and emotional truth. I study structure—a song, scene, image, or sentence—and then let instinct shape the rest. I listen for what’s unsaid and try to connect quietly and with care.
Musical Theatre
Vocal Performance  
- Performer

SEPTEMBER 2023 – PRESENT

  • Lead roles: Fiona (*Shrek*), Gloria Thorpe (*Damn Yankees*); selected as lead vocalist for school events and Blair Day band.

  • Chapel/memorial soloist; Peddie Singers (10th), Treblemakers (9th); repertoire across jazz and musical theatre.

  • Actor’s Studio & private voice: control, nuance, emotional expression; performance as practice in empathy and presence.

  • Learned to prioritize connection and joy on stage; will continue voice study and pursue musical theatre in college.

Visual Storytelling 
Amphion 
Literary Art Magazine 
- Artist and Editor

SEPTEMBER 2022 – PRESENT

  • Independent study in anatomy & color; Scholastic submissions recognized (Silver Key).

  • Amphion 2024 cover artist → layout editor; curate work and mentor contributors.

  • Process: rigorous observation, iteration, and design—structure gives expression room to expand.

  • Plan to lead Amphion and apply visual–narrative strategies to independent work and critique in college.

Peddie Student DEI 
Leadership Council 
- SDEI Leader

MAY 2025 – MAY 2027

  • Liaison between DEI office and students; collaborate with affinity groups; lead community workshops.

  • Focus: moving from awareness to respectful dialogue; amplifying underheard voices.

  • Core skill: listening and facilitating to reach compassionate solutions; carry this work into college leadership and academics.


Peddie Arts Citizenship Committee
– Theater Representative

 2024 – Present

  • Represent theatre in arts programming; link performance with civic dialogue around identity, inclusion, and responsibility.

Peddie Creative Writing 
Signature Program 
- Participant

SEPTEMBER 2025 – MAY 2027

  • Two-year seminar: deep reading across literary history, research-informed original writing.

  • Junior-summer in-person program (2026); final portfolio and public capstone reading.

  • Goal: strengthen language for eloquence and efficacy across creative and academic work.

Law & Psychology Research on Juvenile Vulnerability 
– Researcher

JULY 2025 – NOVEMBER 2025


  • Completed 20-page paper: How are linguistically underdeveloped or impaired juveniles disproportionately at risk for mistreatment in the juvenile justice system?
  • Integrates psychology & law: language vulnerabilities, trauma, development × interrogation tactics and courtroom dynamics.
  • Manuscript complete; currently preparing submission to NHSJS and AJSR.
Columbia University High School Law Institute (HSLI) 
– Student Scholar

Fall 2025 – Spring 2026

  • Accepted and will join in Fall 2025; year-long courses in Constitutional Law, Criminal Law, Moot Court, Saturday seminar.

  • Weekly 3-hour sessions: lectures, case readings, discussions, briefs/oral arguments—complements my juvenile-justice research.

Princeton CIEL Senior Center
Intergenerational Musical Volunteer

MARCH 2025 – PRESENT

  • Bi-monthly performances and visits; music as a bridge for memory and conversation.

  • Shifted from performing to listening; moments of healing informed my archival project of elders’ stories.

Independent Project
- Founder/Artist/Interviewer

JUNE 2025 – PRESENT

  • Interview, illustration, writing, and voice recordings to archive elders’ memories and perspectives.

  • Purpose: give voice to underheard stories; long-term aim aligned with advocacy for representation.

Peddie Varsity 
Girls Golf - Athlete

SEPTEMBER 2023 – PRESENT

  • Varsity team member; MAPL team champion (2025).

  • Built resilience, patience, and team mindset; value humor and cohesion alongside technical skill.

Languages

  • Korean (mother tongue, native fluency)

  • English (second language, native fluency)








RIVER AN’s Portfolio




  As an actress
As an actress, I am drawn to roles that require presence, restraint, and transformation.

I approach each character not as someone to imitate, but as someone to understand. I study the rhythm of their language, their silences, their contradictions. I believe acting isn’t about becoming someone else—it’s about expanding into parts of yourself you’ve never had permission to access.

I train for precision, but I perform for truth.
On stage, I listen as much as I speak. My goal is not to impress but to connect—quietly, honestly, and with intention.






As a SingerTo me, singing is both emotional and intentional.

I study each piece—its phrasing, breath, and structure—before I perform it. I care about tone, articulation, and control, but also about how the music lives and breathes in the moment. My voice isn’t just a tool for expression; it’s a way of listening, shaping, and connecting.

On stage, I aim for clarity, not perfection. I want each sound to mean something—to carry both discipline and feeling. Singing allows me to reveal what can’t always be said, with honesty and precision.




  As an Visual Artist
As an artist, I move between structure and intuition.

I work across mediums—drawing, painting, digital composition—but what stays constant is my interest in memory, emotion, and the spaces in between. I’m drawn to textures, rhythms, and quiet tension. My creative process often begins with discomfort, but it’s through that uncertainty that form begins to emerge.

Art is how I make sense of what I can’t explain directly.
I don’t aim for perfection; I aim for presence.
Each piece is a way of listening—visually, emotionally, and structurally.


\


  As a Writer
As a writer, I begin with questions.

I’m drawn to the parts of experience that resist simple language—grief, silence, contradiction. Writing helps me stay with those things without needing to solve them. I care about voice, rhythm, and the weight of each word. I write slowly, listening as I go.

I don’t see writing as a way to declare what I know, but as a space to find out what I feel. My goal isn’t clarity for its own sake—it’s resonance. I want the reader to pause, not just understand.

For me, writing isn’t about closure. It’s about staying open.




© RIVER AN 2005