In his free time not spent at Riverview, Asst. Principal Greg Rumph has a passion for art and loves to put pictures to life.

He visited Pat Bliss’ Journalism 1 classes on Oct. 16 and told them that “a piece is never completely finished,” and he spends up to 30 hours on every piece he constructs.

Starting off as just a worker at the Checkers on Fruitville Road, Rumph has grown up around art. He considers his father to be his role model. When Rumph was 3 or 4, Rumph states that he always tried to copy his dad’s art works.

Eventually when he was around 5 or 6, Rumph drew many cartoon characters that he grew up with. These cartoon character drawings further influenced him to pursue becoming an animator artist.

To pursue his dream of becoming an animator, he went to art school at Ringling College for Art and Design. In time, his interests led him to changing his focus to that of illustrator.

From there, he was asked to be a substitute since he was known for his artistic abilities. He learned that he loved working in the classroom, so he decided to get more involved in that profession.

He started out teaching, but he earned his degree in educational leadership and was then hired to become an assistant principal. He worked at Southeast, Booker and Sarasota high schools, and now he enjoys his job at Riverview.

Rumph says he faces many challenges, as assistant principals generally deal with discipline. Rumph often has to “put out fires” and transfers between different “fires” throughout his day.

But, in the quiet hours of the night, he reverts to his art.

Even though Rumph states that he has “hundreds of favorite artists,” he specifically likes the classic works of Degas’ kissing girl and Gary Kelly, which influence him in his current pieces. He is currently working on rebranding Riverview’s ram mascot.

Rumph said that if he weren’t an artist or school administrator, he would be playing basketball. Although he loves both being an assistant principal and an artist, he also has always loved basketball. Also, he said that if it were not for his knee problems, he would be playing someone in basketball.

All in all, Rumph enjoys his influence on students as an assistant principal, saying that he “wanted to make a change in a different way.” He also wants to travel and see the world. Above all, Rumph is a talented artist who wants to make a difference in the lives of many.