Riverwood Student Receives Princeton Prize In Race Relations

SANDY SPRINGS, GA - From Riverwood International Charter School: Riverwood International Charter School is proud to announce that junior Syd Pargman received the 2018 Princeton Prize in Race Relations. Representing the Atlanta region, he joins award-winning students from 26 other regions across the country.

Pargman, an International Baccalaureate (IB) Programme Candidate, was chosen for his work related to his project called RALI: Race Across Lines Initiative. For his Middle Years Project (MYP), a component of the IB Programme, he questioned how a racially diverse school such as Riverwood could be so racially separate. Said Pargman, “This obviously is not Riverwood’s fault; this is just a matter of how kids are more comfortable around other kids of the same race. This led me to begin RALI.” He began his project by interviewing student athletes of diverse races. Added Pargman, “I found that when working for a common goal, racial barriers break down when everyone works together to win.”

Aside from summarizing his findings for his MYP Project, he also held a “Quiz Bowl” to encourage kids of different races to experience working together for a common goal. The Quiz Bowl provided a place other than the playing field or court for over 70 students to work together. Added Pargman, “We succeeded in bringing together teams of people from diverse backgrounds. As predicted, each participant brought something different to the table and it was great to see the participants work together and form new bonds.”

Pargman has a love of math and physics and plans to study finance or biomedical engineering in college. He is on the Riverwood Varsity Baseball team and serves as a tutor at the Riverwood Writing Center. Christy Toledano, head of the Writing Center, added, “Syd Pargman is a dynamic tutor in our Raider Writing Center. He is a Renaissance man who can tutor in all subjects including IB math, AP World, APUSH, IB Physics, and any Literature class.”

Pargman will be flying to Princeton at the end of April to meet the other recipients. The winners receive a cash prize of $1,000 and an all-expenses-paid weekend to a national symposium on race at Princeton University.

The Princeton Prize in Race Relations (PPRR) recognizes and awards high school students who have had a significant positive effect on race relations in their schools or communities through their volunteer efforts. The PPRR was founded in the fall of 2003 by Henry Von Kohorn '66, who recognized the need to support and encourage young high school students committed to fostering positive race relations within their communities. Von Kohorn's vision was founded on the notion that early encouragement, reward and support for these students would motivate them to continue this critical work in college and beyond. Since its inception, the PPRR has awarded over 300 prizes.

Photo courtesy of Riverwood International Charter School