Ransom Everglades School

On the final day before summer break, the Ransom Everglades professional community gathered to honor the teachers and staff who have poured their hearts, souls and minds into Ransom Everglades and its students.

Moving speeches, tearful embraces and standing ovations accompanied the departures of retiring faculty Cathi Leibinger (26 years, faculty emeritus), Heidi Steen (20 years), Kathryn Bufkin (18 years) and Jody Salzinger (17 years). All were recognized for their inspirational careers, passion for their craft and devotion to RE students.

By vote of their peers, faculty members Vanessa Lopez (middle school) and James Monk (upper school) received the Arthur Moses Faculty Awards, and professional community member Monique Regis won the Arthur Moses Staff Award.

RE community members also shared their appreciation for the contributions and excellence of departing faculty, including long-serving members Michele Rydborn and Bridgette Laskey.

Applause and ovations also greeted the following academic and campus stalwarts for years-of-service anniversaries:

40 Years
Donald Kappelman (Science)

30 Years
Robert DuBard (Science), Constance Hyde (Visual Arts), Miguel Angel Martinez (Facilities), and Gustavo White (Facilities)

25 Years
Jose Estrada (Facilities), Genaro Manrriquez (Facilities), Jacqueline Milanes (Admissions), and Elsa Munoz (Visual Arts)

20 Years
Emily Aungst (World Languages), Rene Gonzalez (History), Gina Montet (Performing Arts), Rachel Rodriguez (Head of School), and Heidi Steen (World Languages)

15 Years
Corinne Rhyner (English) and Jay Salon (Science)

10 Years
Kimberly Arredondo (Advancement), Quincy Knowles (Administrative Arts), Lizandro Leon (Facilities), and James Monk (World Languages)

What a celebration! We know the entire RE community shares our appreciation for this year's departing teachers, award winners and milestone achievers. You have shaped minds, helped build community and lived out The RE Way.

We wish you all the very best -- and everyone a great summer!

that Ransom Everglades students earned two top-three finishes at the recent Young Coders Initiative Impact Hackathon, a local competition that challenged high school students to propose tech-driven solutions to Miami’s most pressing urban challenges.

Atakan Turgut ’28 and Cohen McDaniel ’28 earned first place and Girish Raju ’27 and Owen Brue ’27 scored third place at the event, which brought students from across South Florida to The Cushman School on May 17 to present their plans to address climate, housing and civic issues.

Turgut and McDaniel shared their vision for a platform, "Tenant Shield," to combat climate gentrification by instantly analyzing complex eviction documents and automatically routing vulnerable Miami tenants directly to local legal aid organizations.

Raju and Brue presented "Hold The Line," a website engineered to protect Miami’s Urban Development Boundary from Everglades encroachment.

Ransom Everglades' third team of Brandon Heller ’27, Salo Sawicki ’27, Mateo Gomez-Peck ’28 and Leonardo Rivera ’27 presented "FloodSight," hyper-local flood forecasting tool built for Miami's low-lying neighborhoods, providing advanced scenario modeling in multiple languages.

Congratulations to all!

Bravo to Beatrice Hernandez '26 and Nelson Manstein '26 for advancing to the semifinalist round of the U.S. Presidential Scholars Program -- meaning they remain in contention to be named U.S. Presidential Scholars by the U.S. Department of Education! Only 627 seniors nationwide and 25 in Florida earned a place in the semifinal round.

Later this summer, no more than 161 students will be named U.S. Presidential Scholars and will receive honorary presidential medallions for academic achievement, SAT/ACT scores, leadership and character as well as excellence in the arts and technical fields.

Good luck Bea and Nelson! We are cheering for you, and !

Tonight, we celebrate our eighth graders at the annual Eighth-Grade Send-up. This special tradition marks their arrival to the upper school and the beginning of an exciting new chapter! Congratulations to our soon-to-be high schoolers – we are so of everything you’ve accomplished and can't wait to see what you do next!

History was made in more ways than one during the 2026 International Academic Competitions Middle and Elementary School National Championships in Orlando last weekend. Congratulations to veteran history and geography coach Joseph Mauro on his much-deserved induction into the inaugural International Academic Competitions Coaches Hall of Fame! Coach Mauro’s landmark achievement set the tone for a gREat trip to the championships, where Ransom Everglades sent 29 students, the largest contingent in the country. A few highlights:

Model UN and Simulations
Sophie Griffin ’30 (3rd Place & Outstanding Delegate, Model UN), Emma Hall ’30 (3rd Place, WWII Simulation), and Niko Diego ’31 (6th Place, Model UN). Outstanding Delegate honors also went to Noah Mitchell ’31 and Alexandra Isaeva ’31.

Geography
Rohan Harihara ’30 reached the national semifinals, while the team of Harihara and Alejandro Gonzalez ’30 placed 13th in the nation. Individual honors also went to Brady Goldberg ’31, Gabe H***e ’32 and Daniel Sigelman ’32.

History Bowl: RE's 6th-grade team (Sigelman, H***e, Isidro Ferrer ’32 and Leon Frankel ’32) and 8th-grade team (Gonzalez, Hall, Ryder Dalal ’30, and Maya Sigelman ’30) reached the quarterfinals.

History Bee: Congratulations to RE's individual national quarterfinalists: Diego, Ferrer, Goldberg, Mitchell, Sigelman, H***e, Gonzalez, Keane Mason ’30 and Oliver Tache ’30.

that our students were recognized by moderators and opponents for their sportsmanship and camaraderie. Congratulations to Coach Mauro and the entire team!

The absolutely fantastic Class of 2026.

The Class of 2026 is getting ready. As commencement approaches, seniors are joyfully soaking up their final moments on campus before walking across the stage. We stand in awe of their achievements, the character they have shown and the community they have built. The entire Ransom Everglades community stands ready to celebrate. Let’s do this, Class of 2026!