Student Profile:
Caroline Boyd, Senior
Riverwood International Charter High School
Caroline Boyd has spent most of her four years at Riverwood International Charter High School in the performance arts wing of the Sandy Springs school.
There, she has immersed herself in theater productions, chorus and drama classes and the Riverwood Singers, a choral group of auditioned young women that is considered one of the more successful in the state – for instance, the Singers were one of three high school women’s choirs invited to perform at the 2008 Georgia Music Educators Association In-Service Conference in Savannah.
In addition to taking Drama III, she is an aide in Drama I, and was awarded the VIP Award for Drama last year and is secretary of the Thespian Society.
But if you ask the 17-year-old daughter of Sharon and William Boyd of Sandy Springs what her favorite subject is, you might be a little surprised at the answer:
Literature, because “it allows me to think, be open-minded, and there’s no right or wrong answer.”
Caroline likes works that reflect society.
She’s taking a heavy course load of AP and International Baccaulaurate (IB) courses, and is on the Riverwood Honor Roll. She is getting a jump start on college by taking English and Economics at Georgia Perimeter College.
But performance is her first love.
Recently she performed the role of Charlotte, the lead female, in “Moon Over Buffalo”, as wife to George, an early 1950s theater couple trying to make it big.
She laughs and says playing loud, comedy roles such as Charlotte makes her more dramatic, and wonders if she adapts to become like her characters.
In other productions, she has been Lucille in “Dearly Departed,” a step mom in “Cinderella,”and had supporting roles in “Grease” and “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.”
Caroline will be traveling to Memphis in March to perform at the Southern Division American Choral Director’s Conference. The Riverwood Singers are one of three high school women’s choirs selected from the entire southeast to perform at the conference.
Caroline attributes her growth as a performer in both theater and chorus to her drama teacher, Mary Beth van der Hoek, and choral director, Amy Hughley.
“They are two wonderful people that Riverwood is fortunate to have,” she said.
Caroline also played volleyball two years, before her activities in drama and chorus became her focus.
“It eats up your time in a good way,” she said. “There’s people just like you, who you can count on, like a family.”
What’s Next:
Caroline’s dream is to study screen acting at Chapman University in Orange County, California, but she is also interested in Georgia, Auburn and Indiana.