Speech and Debate Team
The Ransom Everglades Speech and Debate (RESD) Team strives to bring out the best in students, making them confident public speakers, educating them on how to develop an argument, and providing them with the opportunity to give their voices a platform and purpose, and to use their words for action. The team also fosters a well-spoken, well-informed environment in which people are not afraid to speak up for themselves, and RESD's mission is to help students find "strength in words."
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Team News
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RE Speech and Debate wins three state titles at state tournament
RE's speech and debate team won three state titles – Claudia Colina '25 in Dramatic Interpretation, Eduardo Michelsen '25 in Impromptu Speaking, and Nora Brue '25, Mia Bouyoucef '25 and T.J. Malone '25 in World Schools Debate – and earned seven podium finishes at the 2025 Florida Forensic League Varsity State tournament at the University of Central Florida March 1-2.Read More
Rounding out the top-three finishes for RE: Miranda Silva '26 and Daniela Garcia '26 scored second place in Duo Interpretation; Andrew Gedde '25 earned second in Informative Speaking; Silva won third place in Humorous Interpretation; and Lucas Sanchez '27 claimed third in Dramatic Interpretation. -
RE Speech and Debate continues excellence in 2024-25
RE's speech and debate team excelled at two major events in January, extending a stellar season with more points of pride for the program. Miranda Silva '26 and Daniela Garcia '26 won first place in Duo Interpretation at the Jan. 17-19 Cavalier Invitational in Durham, N.C., and Claudia Colina '25 and Lucas Sanchez '27 won first place in that event at the Sunvite Tournament Jan. 10-12 in Fort Lauderdale.Read More
Two large teams of RE students also claimed victories: In Durham, Nora Brue '25, Todd Malone '25 and Mia Bouyoucef '25 won World Schools Debate and, at the Sunvite, Minnie Zhou '25, Michael Mederos '25, Ana Gonzalez '26 and Winston Hosford '27 claimed the title in World Schools Debate as Sofia Mena '27 and Julia Jacir '27 finished first in Junior Varsity Public Forum Debate. -
Ransom Everglades Speech and Debate excels in back-to-back tournaments
Read MoreRansom Everglades Speech and Debate won the Speech Sweepstakes Award – given to the top team in the speech event – at the Cypress Tradition tournament in Weston Dec. 7-8 as team members collected a host of individual awards. RESD also excelled at the Glenbrooks National Speech and Debate Tournament Nov. 23-25 in Chicago, Ill. Across both tournaments, team members collected 19 top placements. -
Speech and debate students continue stellar season with top finishes in Gainesville
Claudia Colina '25 earned two first-place trophies at the 41st Annual Florida Blue Key Speech and Debate Tournament at the University of Florida in Gainesville to lead a host of top finishes for Ransom Everglades. Colina and Lucas Sanchez '27 earned first in Duo Interpretation, and Colina also topped the field in Program Oral Interpretation. The national event Nov. 1-3 attracted nearly 800 competitors.Read More
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Top finishes for speech and debate at the Yale Invitational
RE Speech and Debate posted one of its best performances ever at the 2024 Yale Invitational: RE teams swept the top of the podium in Duo Interpretation with Claudia Colina '25 and Lucas Sanchez '27 earning first place and Miranda Silva '26 and Daniela Garcia '26 claiming second place. Colina also won first place in the Program of Oral Interpretation and Gustavo do Valle '26 scored second place in Humorous Interpretation.Read More -
Junior leads RE with fifth place at speech and debate nationals
Claudia Colina ‘25 placed fifth in the nation in Dramatic Interpretation at the 2024 National Speech and Debate Tournament in Des Moines, Iowa, on June 16-21, as Francesca Lopez ‘24 won recognition for her fourth straight nationals appearance and Eduardo Michelsen '25, Daniela Garcia '26, Miranda Silva '26 and Hannah Risin '25 reached the final rounds.Read More -
More than 20 qualify for speech and debate championships
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.Read More
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. -
Speech and debate earns four titles at states
Read MoreThe RE speech and debate team could barely fit the massive trophy haul from the 2024 Florida Forensic League Varsity State Championships on the bus ride home from Wellington, Fla. RE students won four state titles as coach Kate Hamm earned Region 5 Coach of the Year honors at the March 2-3 event. Claudia Colina '25 finished first in Dramatic Interpretation; Eduardo Michelsen '25 finished first in Domestic Extemporaneous; Danny Mendelson '25 and Max Salomon '25 captured the Public Forum Debate title; and Sindhu Talluri '25, Nora Brue '25, Lauren Page '24, Ian Fox '24 and T.J. Malone '25 won the championship in World Schools Debate. -
Coach Hamm honored as RE Speech and Debate thrives in 2024 events
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.Read More -
Raiders excel at two speech and debate tournaments
Read MoreTen Ransom Everglades speech and debate students posted top-10 finishes at an international debate tournament in Weston in December and nearly two dozen earned finalist recognition at a local tournament in Fort Lauderdale in November. The Raiders were led by Claudia Colina ’25 (first place, dramatic interpretation), Gustavo Do Valle ’26 (first place, humorous interpretation), Danny Mendelson ’25 and Max Salomon ’25 (second place, public forum), Isabella Copetti ’27 (third place, original oratory), Jack McCarron ’26 (third, humorous interpretation) at the 8th Annual International Tradition Tournament at Cypress Bay High Dec. 2-3; all also earned prestigious bids to the end-of-season Tournament of Champions event.
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Student Leaders
President: Kayra Serpenguzel '25
Vice-President: Ana Lourdes Gonzalez '26
Scribe: Lucas Sanchez '27
Vice-President: Ana Lourdes Gonzalez '26
Scribe: Lucas Sanchez '27
Roster
Adler, Isabel '27
Alesandro, Ryan '26
Alexander, Benjamin '28
Alfonso, Connor '26
Almazan, Reese '28
Andrade, Diego '28
Astorga, Maryam '28
Bajpai, Vince '28
Balson, Jeremy '28
Barlick, Armando '26
Barrack, Matilda '27
Barreto, Gabriela '27
Barroso Ruiz, Ivanna '28
Bautista, Sienna '27
Berlin, Jackson '27
Bhandari, Anya '25
Bhandari, Maya '28
Bhandari, Ria '28
Bouyoucef, Mia '25
Brana, Carmela '28
Brue, Nora '25
Brue, Owen '27
Bussel-Alonso, Samuel '27
Buzzi, Sophia '28
Chinoy, Giacomo '27
Chopp, Dana '26
Cicero, Adriana '28
Cobas, Natalia '25
Colina, Claudia '25
Contreras, Flavia '28
Copetti, Isabella '27
Coulter, Evan '27
Crowley, Ava '27
Crowley, Ella '26
Cuy, Julia '25
Dalal, Tyson '28
Daphnis, Lani '28
de Sabrit, Eduardo '26
de Sabrit, Isabella '28
del Cañal Fernandez, Carlos '25
del Coso Pena, Garoe '27
Delgado, Mateo '27
Demos-Brown, Jillian '25
Dennis, Jade '27
do Valle, Gustavo '26
Duarte, Luisa '27
Echavarria, Lucas '28
Escoto Cordova, Mia '25
Feingold, Trulie '27
Fernandez, Ava '27
Friedman, Matthew '26
Garcia, Daniela '26
Gedde, Andrew '25
Gershman, Reed '26
Gil Rivero, Santiago '26
Gold, Caleb '27
Gonzalez, Ana Lourdes '26
Gonzalez Bergoderi, Clementina '27
Gowda, Misha '28
Griffin, Wes '26
Guzman, Carmen '27
Hankollari, Denny '27
Haralambides, Phaedra '28
Heisel, Leonardo '26
Hosford, Winston '27
Alesandro, Ryan '26
Alexander, Benjamin '28
Alfonso, Connor '26
Almazan, Reese '28
Andrade, Diego '28
Astorga, Maryam '28
Bajpai, Vince '28
Balson, Jeremy '28
Barlick, Armando '26
Barrack, Matilda '27
Barreto, Gabriela '27
Barroso Ruiz, Ivanna '28
Bautista, Sienna '27
Berlin, Jackson '27
Bhandari, Anya '25
Bhandari, Maya '28
Bhandari, Ria '28
Bouyoucef, Mia '25
Brana, Carmela '28
Brue, Nora '25
Brue, Owen '27
Bussel-Alonso, Samuel '27
Buzzi, Sophia '28
Chinoy, Giacomo '27
Chopp, Dana '26
Cicero, Adriana '28
Cobas, Natalia '25
Colina, Claudia '25
Contreras, Flavia '28
Copetti, Isabella '27
Coulter, Evan '27
Crowley, Ava '27
Crowley, Ella '26
Cuy, Julia '25
Dalal, Tyson '28
Daphnis, Lani '28
de Sabrit, Eduardo '26
de Sabrit, Isabella '28
del Cañal Fernandez, Carlos '25
del Coso Pena, Garoe '27
Delgado, Mateo '27
Demos-Brown, Jillian '25
Dennis, Jade '27
do Valle, Gustavo '26
Duarte, Luisa '27
Echavarria, Lucas '28
Escoto Cordova, Mia '25
Feingold, Trulie '27
Fernandez, Ava '27
Friedman, Matthew '26
Garcia, Daniela '26
Gedde, Andrew '25
Gershman, Reed '26
Gil Rivero, Santiago '26
Gold, Caleb '27
Gonzalez, Ana Lourdes '26
Gonzalez Bergoderi, Clementina '27
Gowda, Misha '28
Griffin, Wes '26
Guzman, Carmen '27
Hankollari, Denny '27
Haralambides, Phaedra '28
Heisel, Leonardo '26
Hosford, Winston '27
Houlle, Auguste '27
Hyde, William '27
Jacir, Julia '27
Jolivert, Emma '27
Kaleli, Selin '28
Katsoufis, Aleko '28
Keedy Brown, Patrick '26
Khvorostiana, Kateryna '25
Kruger, Stefano '28
Kulkarni, Felix '27
Lavernia, Anna Sofia '25
Lemus, Kaitlyn '27
Liu, Lillian '27
Lopez-Oña, Diego '27
Louis, Josephine '28
Luca, Cristina '28
Luzine, Veronica '26
Malone, Todd '25
Marcus, Tyler '26
Martinez, David '25
Mason, Sloane '27
Maynulet, Paola '26
Mederos, Michael '25
Medina, Andrea '28
Mena, Sofia '27
Mendelson, Daniel '25
Mestepey, Bridget '26
Michelsen, Eduardo '25
Miquilarena, Natalie '28
Mosse, Lila '27
Moyle, Catherine '28
Murphy, Lilah '27
Napoleon, Hilton '26
Newman, Stella '26
Parisi, Isabella '27
Pena, Constantino '26
Pfleger, James '27
Quintero Kontopoulos, Eleni '27
Ranawat, Sophia '27
Rhone-Fernandez, Sofia '26
Risin, Hannah '25
Rizvi, Zarah '27
Rodriguez, Isabella '28
Rojas-Cueva, Isabella '26
Salomon, Max '25
Salvat, Julieta '27
Sanchez, Lucas '27
Serpenguzel, Kayra '25
Shah, Arhan '27
Silva, Miranda '26
Simkins, Eli '27
Steinberg, Chloe '27
Stieglitz, Robert '28
Thurber, Lyla '28
Tomassetti, Eli '27
Torres, Nicholas '27
Tsialas, Christopher '26
Ulloa, Amalia '28
Uster Valdivieso, Albert '28
Vengoechea Schiff, Cianna '25
Yavagal, Reisha '27
Zaldivar, Chloe '26
Zawyer, Brayden '28
Zhou, Minnie '26
Hyde, William '27
Jacir, Julia '27
Jolivert, Emma '27
Kaleli, Selin '28
Katsoufis, Aleko '28
Keedy Brown, Patrick '26
Khvorostiana, Kateryna '25
Kruger, Stefano '28
Kulkarni, Felix '27
Lavernia, Anna Sofia '25
Lemus, Kaitlyn '27
Liu, Lillian '27
Lopez-Oña, Diego '27
Louis, Josephine '28
Luca, Cristina '28
Luzine, Veronica '26
Malone, Todd '25
Marcus, Tyler '26
Martinez, David '25
Mason, Sloane '27
Maynulet, Paola '26
Mederos, Michael '25
Medina, Andrea '28
Mena, Sofia '27
Mendelson, Daniel '25
Mestepey, Bridget '26
Michelsen, Eduardo '25
Miquilarena, Natalie '28
Mosse, Lila '27
Moyle, Catherine '28
Murphy, Lilah '27
Napoleon, Hilton '26
Newman, Stella '26
Parisi, Isabella '27
Pena, Constantino '26
Pfleger, James '27
Quintero Kontopoulos, Eleni '27
Ranawat, Sophia '27
Rhone-Fernandez, Sofia '26
Risin, Hannah '25
Rizvi, Zarah '27
Rodriguez, Isabella '28
Rojas-Cueva, Isabella '26
Salomon, Max '25
Salvat, Julieta '27
Sanchez, Lucas '27
Serpenguzel, Kayra '25
Shah, Arhan '27
Silva, Miranda '26
Simkins, Eli '27
Steinberg, Chloe '27
Stieglitz, Robert '28
Thurber, Lyla '28
Tomassetti, Eli '27
Torres, Nicholas '27
Tsialas, Christopher '26
Ulloa, Amalia '28
Uster Valdivieso, Albert '28
Vengoechea Schiff, Cianna '25
Yavagal, Reisha '27
Zaldivar, Chloe '26
Zawyer, Brayden '28
Zhou, Minnie '26
Middle School
2045 South Bayshore Drive, Coconut Grove, FL 33133Phone: 305 250 6850
Upper School
3575 Main Highway, Coconut Grove, FL 33133Phone: 305 460 8800
Founded in 1903, Ransom Everglades School is a coeducational, college preparatory day school for grades 6 - 12 located on two campuses in Coconut Grove, Florida. Ransom Everglades School produces graduates who "believe that they are in the world not so much for what they can get out of it as for what they can put into it." The school provides rigorous college preparation that promotes the student's sense of identity, community, personal integrity and values for a productive and satisfying life, and prepares the student to lead and to contribute to society.