Interim Head of School Rachel Rodriguez described Arnold as "inspirational to all" and "a Raider through and through." The father of Elanah ’21, Eliza ’24 and Ella ’27, Arnold has been actively involved in RE since his graduation, serving on RE’s alumni board, as a member of the school’s task force for Covid-19, and in many other roles.

Arnold, Chief of Surgery at Lennar Foundation Medical Center, said he gained intellectual confidence at Ransom Everglades along with “a keen understanding that a group of talented engaged individuals can accomplish much more together than they can individually.”

“This award is supposed to recognize some contribution that I have made to RE,” said Arnold, also the Director of the Jackson Memorial Hospital Otolaryngology Clinic and a professor at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, “but all that pales in comparison to what Ransom has done for me. The time I spent here in the 1980s prepared me for a life of significant challenge and more than my share of successes.”

 

Rodriguez had similar words of praise for Moore Houston, lauding her for her decades-long commitment to the school that her parents helped launch. "Even as an adult she never lost sight of her connection to Ransom Everglades," Rodriguez said. RE’s Director of Alumni Engagement Vicki Carbonell Williamson ’88 accepted the award on behalf of Moore Houston, who lives in New Hampshire and could not attend in person.

Moore Houston, who has been a class agent for more than 60 years and co-chaired a founding-class reunion last fall in Asheville, N.C., shared her gratitude for the honor in written remarks. She noted that the Everglades Creed, which remains visible on the middle school campus, offers a lasting legacy of "the little school on Tigertail" – signifying respect, integrity and empathy.

"Everglades school in those pioneering days was a family," Moore Houston wrote in the remarks read by Rodriguez. "Everyone had a seat at the table then, and in the years since many of us, not just I, have wanted to be sure that everyone is still invited."