05/29/2026
Hey, we know him!
"I'm Jayden Bryant and I am in the voice/keyboard concentration at Saginaw Arts and Sciences Academy - SASA and I’m planning to carry music into my future at Michigan State, majoring in music with a vocal emphasis.
I got into music around second or third grade, and started taking voice and piano lessons when I was in seventh grade. I took lessons with Demona Reed and she helped me learn how to play the piano and improve my voice and technique. S. Once I got into high school, I stopped working with her, and I worked more with Miss JC, Miss Joiner-Christensen, who is my teacher now and she has really helped me improve.
Every day in the classroom, we're just like a big family. We all have these different mindsets and these different creative ideas, and we're all individually talented at something else. For example, some of us are naturally gifted at piano because we've been playing our whole lives, and then others, we're naturally gifted at singing because we've been singing our whole lives. Other students play different instruments. Outside of class, I joined the Saginaw Choral Society earlier this year, so I sang in a couple of concerts for them. It gave me a lot more insight into how these choral works are prepared. Being with a big group like that—whenever you're within a big choral group, you know that you're all singing the same thing, and just being in that big space, it's really nice. It doesn't really matter what your level of singing is. As long as you're blending together, and it comes out as one sound for all of you, I think that's the most beautiful part of it all.
There's actually one work that I did last year. It's my favorite piece of all time: Mozart's Requiem. I love doing that. The Saginaw Choral Society had SASA students come to sing it with them. That whole piece was incredibly beautiful. You got these intense parts that sometimes build up, and then you've also got these slow movements, and parts that just start off intense. I just think it's all beautiful.
The thing that I love most about SASA is that we're really small, and I think that helps bring us together as a family. I think that us being a family is really important, especially in times like these. No matter what concentration you're in, no matter your interest, your future, we always find a way to be bonded and to stay close with each other, and to hang out after school, to learn about each other. I think that's really just the best part of being at SASA.
To incoming freshmen, I'd say don't be afraid to go out and make friends. Don't be afraid to be social and to really talk to people, because you'll make friends with people that you don't expect to make friends with. Maybe there's someone you've known your whole life but you haven't really talked to them—maybe that person will become your best friend once you enter high school. I'd say try to make the most out of it, because it'll go by really fast. Hang out when you can, go out, go to football games, go to baseball games, go to any of the games, and you'll have a great time. Bring some friends. You're all together and you're all just having fun. Overall, just try to enjoy your time here and make the best out of it.
The thing that I'm looking most forward to with college is to build on my time at SASA and to start a new experience, finding a way to take the things that I learned here to college and make my experience even better. I want to make new friends, find new things to do, find new hobbies, really explore myself even more, and to build myself into something bigger than I already am right now."
—Jayden Bryant, Saginaw Arts and Science Academy Class of 2026
