Riverwood Senior Awarded Full Scholarship To Juilliard School

SANDY SPRINGS, GA — Riverwood senior, Rainy Marie Robertson, has been accepted to The Juilliard School on a full-tuition scholarship.

As a member of the Class of 2025, Robertson will pursue a bachelor of fine arts degree in acting. She joins fellow Riverwood alumni and Atlanta native Courtenay Collins. Collins is currently an actress with the Alliance Theatre and Georgia Ensemble and starred in “The Prom” on Broadway in 2019.

Robertson began her acting career at Riverwood three years ago when she starred in the school musical “Pippin” as a freshman. Since that time, she has focused on self-study and acting development. Robertson auditioned for The Juilliard School virtually in December 2020 and participated in subsequent auditions. She was one of 18 students chosen out of nearly 2,000 who auditioned for the drama group.

Founded in 1905, The Juilliard School is a world leader in performing arts education. The school's mission is to provide the highest caliber of artistic education for gifted musicians, dancers, and actors worldwide to achieve their fullest potential as artists, leaders, and global citizens. Several Hollywood actors are Juilliard graduates, including Academy Award winner Viola Davis, Academy Award nominee Jessica Chastain and the late Robin Williams.

In addition to taking numerous IB and AP courses at Riverwood, Robertson is the founder of the Riverwood Book Club. While at Juilliard, she hopes to advance the role of Black women in acting.

“As a Black woman, my reality has a history of being overlooked and undermined," she said. "Not seeing myself or seeing monolithic representations of my people in popular film/media has been hard to swallow. I have a dream of a world where popular media is all-encompassing, that someday it will include all of us, with respect to every identity. More than anything, as an artist, I want my art to contribute to this dream. I want to give shape to the most brilliant and inventive divergences of the conventional black woman's narrative.”