Looks Bright: SCC’s Landry inspires others while trusting her path

Published 12:11 am Saturday, January 9, 2016

Senior Ariel Landry has been described as a humble girl and a quiet leader.

Landry, 17, of LaPlace is a student at St. Charles Catholic High School.

Director of Instruction and Institutional Advancement Courtney Millet said just from her smile, people can tell Landry is a sweet girl who has a strong faith.

One way Landry shares her faith with others is through the school’s Retreat Team.

“We go to retreats at feeder schools,” she said. “We tell them about God and play games with them. We are basically trying to expose them to Christ in a way they might not have seen before.”

The “feeder schools” are the Catholic elementary schools in the River Parishes. At the retreats, Landry talks about loving yourself.

“It’s about being comfortable and accepting who you are,” she said. “I like being part of the team because I get to show people Christ and I get to bring them to the realization that God loves them, and maybe they see Him in a different way.”

Landry said the younger children seemed excited and enthusiastic about the retreats; however, she said some students are afraid to sing or pray out loud because they feel it’s “uncool.”

In Millet’s mind, the Retreat Team, made up of seniors, act as role models for the younger students.

“It’s nice for them to see high school students who are strong in their faith,” she said. “It allows them to say, ‘Its OK to talk about my faith and believe in God.’ That’s why I think it’s important.”

Team members also work all summer on the religious theme for St. Charles Catholic. Landry is also a leader in the school’s Fellowship of Christian Athletes.

Her faith is important to Landry, who said in times of struggle people may blame God for their problems. She wants people to know they need to keep their faith because God will always be there to help get them through their problems. Along with keeping her faith, expressing herself is also important to the senior.

“I really like English and art, those are my favorite classes,” she said. “You can express yourself with English through writing, and Art through drawing or digital design, which is something that I’m doing this year.”

Landry used the skills to design the cover of a book of poems by Robert M. Wallace, titled “Hawk on a Power Line.”

“My whole family is very artistically minded,” she said. “From a young age, I started drawing, painting and things like that. We have a really great art teacher here who brought us into new projects. She had me doing things I never thought I could do before.”

Art classes at St. Charles Catholic have broadened Landry’s horizons.

“I’m in Digital Design and I didn’t think I could do it,” she said. “I was originally going to take Studio Art 2, which is more painting and drawing, but it didn’t work with my schedule. With Digital Design, we work in the MacLab with Photoshop. I didn’t know that I could be good at that. The projects our teacher is having us do are so fun, and it has got me interested in computer design.”

Landry is also a member of the tennis and soccer teams, president of the National Honor Society, Student Council, was recently crowned homecoming queen and has been inducted into the ACT 30 Plus Club at St. Charles Catholic.

Landry plans to attend the University of Louisiana at Lafayette to double major in communications and design. She dreams of doing mission work after graduation and becoming the art director of a design company.