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Art slide show (Scholastic Art Awards)

RE drama students are so talented and accomplished they needed two separate casts for the upper school spring production of Chicago on April 10-13. From the magnificent leads – Gabrielle Lieberman '24, Jaerla Sajous '25, Emma Holtzman '24, Lucia Soto '24, Henry Berler '25 and Armando Segrera '25 – to the brilliant supporting roles and staging, the production made the Lewis Family Auditorium indistinguishable from a Broadway theater. The four performances drew large crowds and showcased the incredible depth and sophistication of drama at Ransom Everglades.

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Ransom Everglades' middle school math team wrapped up an incredible season with a second-place finish in the 2024 Florida Mathcounts State Competition in Orlando March 29 as Daniel Li '28 finished third individually. Li became the first-ever RE middle schooler to qualify for the national championship, and coach Jess Merrick was named coach of the national team. RE's Joshie Khohayting '28 finished eighth overall, and Alex Tevelow '28 and Maxie Wu '28 each finished in the top 25 percent of competitors. Alternate Sofiya Dewan '29 also excelled, supporting the performance.

Ethan Thomas '25 finished in the top three for the second straight year at State Science and Engineering Fair of Florida. Thomas's project entitled Syncardia: AI at the Heart of Early Cardiovascular Disease Detection, earned third place at the April 2-4 event after his second-place finish last year. In its 69th year, the science fair drew some 900 students from across the state.

Seven juniors were named Class of 2025 Dan Leslie Bowden Fellows in the Humanities, a prestigious recognition at Ransom Everglades that brings financial and academic support for summer studies in the humanities. Adrian Jagodzinski '25, Jordan James '25, Kenzie Kaplan '25, Beatriz Lindemann '25, Lucas Lippey '25, Ethan Sullivan '25 and Sindhu Talluri '25 were selected by a committee of RE faculty under the direction of Associate Head of School John A. King Jr. They will explore various topics through summer travel and research.

Max Grunwald '26 and Emma Sharp '25 qualified for the U.S. National Chemistry Olympiad on April 20, joining more than 1,000 students across the nation who achieved exceptional scores on a recent chemistry assessment. The results of the national examination, which will be administered locally, will be used to determine qualifiers for the International Chemistry Olympiad. The students take Advanced Chemistry-2 with faculty member Yuria Sharp.

Ransom Everglades' boys water polo team celebrated its second consecutive district championship victory – a convincing 12-8 victory over rival MAST Academy – by joyfully lifting the winner's trophy in front of cheering fans at the Ansin Aquatic Center on April 3. Jack Merrick '26 led the Raiders with an eight-goal performance and Oliver Friedland '26 and Milo Gorey '24 each chipped in two goals.

More than 20 RE speech and debate students qualified for the 2024 National Speech and Debate Association National Championship with stellar performances at the March 15-18 district qualifying tournament at Ransom Everglades. The national tournament will be held June 16-21 in Des Moines, Iowa.

Under Coach Kate Hamm, 15 Raiders earned first-place finishes: Claudia Colina '25, Carlos Del Cañal Fernandez '25, the team of Francesca Lopez '24 and Hannah Risin '25, Bridget Mestepey '26, Eduardo Michelsen '25, Lilah Murphy '27, the team of Varun Raju '24 and Thomas Crowley '24, and the team of Mia Bouyoucef '25, Luciana Pardo '25, Anya Bhandari '25, Minnie Zhou '26, Jillian Demos-Brown '25.

Ransom Everglades honored nine senior members of RE's jazz combos during a spring Jazz and Guitar Concert at Posner Lecture Hall on March 19. The concert included a first-time twist: table seating offering audience members the feel of a cozy lounge and up-close views of the musicians.

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Amid cheers, thumping music, dimmed lights and animated play-by-play from physics teacher Paul Natland '02 at the Lewis Family Auditorium, Tomas Griffin '25 won RE's annual bridge competition with structure that held 1,425 times its weight before finally splintering. More than 180 upper school students in RE's physics, engineering, architecture and other classes entered the 2024 competition, and the 15 finalists competed in the raucous finale March 18.

Wearing adorable costumes and performing on a magical set at Swenson Hall, middle school drama students showed their musical range and acting prowess in The Wizard of Oz March 13-15. The spring musical under the direction of drama teacher Cecilia Gonzalez featured Sofie Delic '28 as Dorothy and her charming misfit friends: Ben Brandrick-Morris '29 as Scarecrow; Vivi Pasos '28 as Lion; and Aleko Katsoufis '28 as Tin Man. Izzy Greengrass '30 appeared as Toto, and Cecile Etzbach '29 served as Wicked Witch of the West. Photo Gallery

Four Everglades School for Girls alumnae visited RE to mark the school's celebration of International Women's Day, joining an upper school assembly with members of the student club Women Empowerment on March 5. Betty Wiseheart Joyce '70, Beth Kaiser '76 and Karen (Flannery) Jones '72 took seats in the front row of the Lewis Family Auditorium as club president Maggie Seabrook '24 interviewed Roxi Badia Morgenstern '75, and various club members presented history, trivia and traditions of the Everglades School for Girls.

Ransom Everglades visual arts students excelled in the 2024 Junior Orange Bowl Photography Contest, earning several top awards. Henry Greengrass '28 won first place in the middle school portrait competition and claimed the prestigious Judges' Choice Award. Nicholas Harper '25 earned a first place in the upper school night category, and four other RE students – Mateo Bernal '27, Taylor Smith '25, Jack Di Gasbarro '25 and Vlad Ponomarenko '25 – earned honors.

Sydney Gould '25 and Rebecca Paresky '25 won the 2024 RE Business Plan Challenge with their proposal for NeuroView, special glasses powered by electrochromic technology that alleviate photophobia symptoms caused by concussions. With their selection on March 5 over four finalist student groups, Gould and Paresky advanced to the 2024 Innovate South Florida Business Plan Challenge on April 10.

The robotics team of Mateo Heitner '25, Ivan Rosenfeld '25, Victoria Paraoulaki de Miranda '24, Erick Gross '24 and Gabriel Karsenti '26 put forth one of the most successful performances in RE robotics history at the South Florida Regional VEX Robotics Championship in Miami Springs on March 2. The Raiders won The Excellence Award, the Robot Skills Challenge award and Tournament Finalist recognition, triple-qualifying for the world championships in April in Dallas, Tex.

Two dozen of RE's Model United Nations team members participated in the National High School Model United Nations event March 9-11 in New York City, engaging in debates with other students and interacting with diplomatic representatives of various countries. They also had the honor of meeting Malala Yousafzai, the Nobel Peace Prize recipient and education activist in front of the Non-Violence sculpture on the United Nations plaza. The trip was guided by Model UN coach Stephen Allen.

Seven Ransom Everglades students are among the youngest attendees presenting original research at the annual American Physical Society Conference in Minneapolis March 4-5. Members of RE’s Young REsearchers Program (YREP), Sofia Rakhimi ’25, Paloma Lopes ’25, Michael Mederos ’25, Francisco Gomez Rivas-Vazquez ’24, Dieter Manstein ’25, Carlos Horcasitas ’25 and Mia Campbell ’25 submitted abstracts on their work with RE's portable laser and traveled to the conference physics teachers Dr. Emily Grace and Paul Natland '02.

The Middle School Winter Strings Concert at the Posner Lecture Hall on Feb. 28 felt as intimate as a living-room performance. Strings Music Director Scott O'Donnell addressed the crowd between pieces, sharing his goals for RE's strings students and providing insight into the selection of music for the evening's event. Throughout, he sounded much like a proud parent when talking about the students' progress in 2023-24.
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Ransom Everglades musicians, singers, dancers and production specialists combined their myriad talents for a fundraising concert at the Lewis Family Auditorium on Feb. 29. Hosted in part by the RE student group Rock 4 Relief, the Spring Concert 2024: A Tribute for Ukraine drew a large and enthusiastic crowd, and showed the school community at its best.

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Ransom Everglades kicked off The Year of the Dragon with a rollicking Lunar New Year festival on a brilliantly bedecked Touzet patio. Tradition, celebration and fun converged at the upper school on Feb. 13 as RE students, parents, faculty, staff and friends gathered to enjoy Chinese delicacies and music, dance and acrobatics performances. The Chinese Parent Committee, the school’s Chinese Culture Club and the many students in the Chinese classes of faculty member Xiaohong Teng organized the events and helped decorate La Brisa with red-and-gold lanterns and silk dragons. Photo Gallery

Middle school band students participated in a novel winter concert that was part-performance and part-high-stakes practice session. Middle school band director Cathi Leibinger used the Spring Pre-Evaluation Concert on Feb. 13 at Swenson Hall to showcase her students' progress while also putting their burgeoning skills to the test in preparation for an upcoming musical performance assessment. Photo Gallery

Ransom Everglades nominated 12 students who excel in service and various scholastic realms to compete for prestigious Silver Knight Awards in May. The nominees and their award category: Nathan Kaplan ’24, Athletics; Thomas Crowley ’24, Business; Jake Perdigon ’24, Digital Media; Rowan Tolon ’24, Drama; Lauren Page ’24, English; William Charouhis ’24, General; Emma Dvorkin ’24, Journalism; Victoria Paraoulaki de Miranda ’24, Math; Christine Keedy Brown ’24, Music and Dance; Kaitlyn Gonzalez ’24, Science; Gabrielle Lieberman ’24, Social Science; Ian Fox ’24, Speech.

Seven Ransom Everglades students – Mia Bouyoucef '25, Nora Brue '25, Sophia Linfield '26, Eduardo Michelsen '25, Luna Molla '25, Emma Perdigon '25 and Nina Rivera '25 – explored breaking barriers and unleashing possibilities through their talks on the theme of "unbound" at TEDxRansomEvergladesSchool on Feb. 9 at Swenson Hall. The entirely student-run event was dedicated to RE parent-of-alumni Tom Bales, who passed away last fall and was credited for inspiring the creation of TEDxCoconutGrove, the predecessor to TEDxRansomEvergladesSchool.

Core values taught in high school can influence ethical behavior down the line, according to the latest speaker in RE’s Holzman Center of Applied Ethics Speaker Series. Josephine Linden, the former chief compliance officer at Goldman Sachs who is now chair of the board of Lands’ End, told upper school students on Feb. 6 that what she learned during her school days at the Kambala school for girls in New South Wales, Australia, guides her even now.

Ransom Everglades' speech and debate team began 2024 with a host of top performances at local and national events. The highlights: more than 70 qualifications to the Florida Forensic League Varsity State Championship during an event at RE on Feb. 2, and a notable showing at the Barkley Forum at Emory University in Atlanta on Jan. 27-28. There, coach Kate Hamm was inducted into the prestigious national Golden Key Society for excellence in coaching.

RE's growing dance program has added a new faculty member (Tess Guidry), a new class (the Upper School Art of Dance) and a new concert format featuring experienced middle school dancers (eighth grade) through high school seniors sharing the same stage. Yet the core of the program remains the same: a group of close-knit dancers who perform with passion and emotion, striving to stir the hearts of the audience. That goal was accomplished at the Lewis Family Auditorium on Feb. 2 with the All-School Spring Dance Showcase: REmotions.

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Ransom Everglades’ sailing team won the South Atlantic Interscholastic Sailing Association South Points No. 4 in St. Petersburg, Fla., Jan. 20-21. The Raiders were led by Ian Fox '24, Griggs Diemar '25, Violet Martin '24 and Kayra Serpenguzel '25 with skippers Garrett Fox '26 and Ava McAliley '26 and crew members Amelia Lazarus '25 and Manolo Campos '25. The Raiders competed under coach Joe Logan and assistant Omari Scott.

RE swept the top awards – four first places – at the 2024 South Florida Winter History Bee and Bowl at Ransom Everglades on Jan. 20 and collected other top finishes. Daniel Figueroa '24 won the varsity bee title and Parker Jelke '27 won the junior varsity bee. RE's Jelke, Jacob Aronow '26 and Charles Reizenstein '26 won the varsity bowl title and Jack Gonzalez '28, Jack Akselrad '28, Jaz Puri '28 and Noah Veras '29 won the JV bowl title.

An exciting range of student visual art is on display at the Upper School Visual Arts Winter Showcase in the recently christened Linda S. Frankel Visual Arts Center, the Bowden library and Cameron Hall. Works from photography, experimental photography, portraiture, studio art, ceramics, digital art and architecture classes highlight the progress students have made under RE's visual arts faculty at the upper school: Astrid Dalins, Jorge Guzman, Moira Holohan, Fabienne Rousseau and Matt Stock. The showcase opened Feb. 2.

Joshie Khohayting '28 and Daniel Li '28 highlighted excellent results for Ransom Everglades in a pair of recent math competitions, as both earned perfect scores on a national middle school math exam and also finished in the top 2.5 percent on a 10th-grade math exam known as the American Mathematics Competition 10 (AMC 10). RE's middle and upper school math teams also claimed a host of top-five finishes in a pair of regional high school math competitions in late January and early February.

Ransom Everglades' girls' soccer team capped a thrilling ride through the district playoffs with a hard-fought 1-0 victory against Carrollton School of the Sacred Heart in the Class 3A District 15 championship on Feb. 1. Sofia Rua '24 scored the game-winning goal on an assist by Stella Colombo '26 in the second half as goalkeeper Juju Perez Rivera '24 fended off late pressure to secure the victory. Raiders' fans had been holding their breath since the district semifinal a few days earlier; RE won that game against Westminster Christian in overtime thanks to Perez Rivera, who saved the 2-1 victory by stopping three of four penalty kicks.

Ransom Everglades kicked off Black History Month with a lively festival during the mid-day break after an inspiring morning talk from the Rev. Dr. Walter T. Richardson, the senior chaplain for the Miami-Dade Police Department and an adjunct professor of religion at St. Thomas University. Upper school students and faculty in the Lewis Family Auditorium gave Richardson a standing ovation, then enjoyed food, music and art rooted in African and Caribbean traditions.

Five Ransom Everglades fall sports athletes – Jesse Hellring '25 (golf), Julia Lewkowitz '25 (volleyball), Sophia Linfield '26 (cross country), Kiera Rampersad '25 (swimming) and David Serra '24 (cross country) – earned first-team all-county honors from the Miami Herald as more than 30 RE student-athletes received recognition in the fall sports rankings released in December and January by the newspaper.

Admissions directors from Cornell University, Pomona College and the University of Toronto shared insights on the college admissions process with members of the Class of 2025 and parents during the College Admission Symposium on January 13 at the Lewis Family Auditorium. RE Executive Director of College Counseling Jason Locke welcomed juniors to the launch of the college admissions process and Ann Parks, Director of College Counseling Communications, addressed the importance of “expanding the universe of colleges and universities” when building an initial college list.

The Ransom Everglades students who attended the 2023 National Association of Independent Schools’ Student Diversity Leadership Conference in St. Louis, Mo., shared the experience with their peers during a roundtable discussion at the Lewis Family Auditorium on Jan. 16. The students – Jamora Arroyo-Jefferson '24, Kaige Brown '25, Isabel Chong '24, Ron "R.J." Donaldson '25, Tyira Jackson '24 and Anuradha "Anu" Tewari '25 – explained how the event worked and what they gained from it, and they took questions from Diversity Council advisor Carla Hill.

Dozens of alumni from the Classes of 2020 through 2023 returned to Ransom Everglades for lunch with students and faculty at La Brisa on January 11, a high-spirited reunion that took place after the Young Alumni College Panel for RE's junior class. That panel discussion on the college process and college life featured thoughtful advice and reminiscences from six alumni: Julia Buckner '20 (Wellesley), Lucia Rose Dahn '23 (Brown), Alex Dray '21 (Duke), Jack Fitzpatrick '20 (Wake Forest), Ana Gonzalez '23 (Princeton) and Yuhan Liu '21 (University of Pennsylvania) in the Lewis Family Auditorium. Photo Gallery

Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava encouraged upper school students to get involved in the community, exercise their right to vote when eligible and take responsibility for bringing about positive change. A past parent at Ransom Everglades, the mayor answered questions from student-body president James Brown Urmeneta '24 and fellow students Tyira Jackson '24, Nina Gumbs '24, Lauren Page '24 and Mikey Zoi '24 during an assembly at the Lewis Family Auditorium on Jan. 9.