RE Log Fall 2019

FALL 2019 Ransom Everglades LOG 33 Novelist, syndicated columnist and Cuban immigrant Ana Veciana-Suarez spent a day at the Ransom Everglades Middle School for the second annual One Book, One Day, One School (OBODOS) event, sharing her personal story, providing insight into her life’s work, and Silicon Valley scientist Tiffany Vora urged RE students to aspire to change the world dramatically, not incrementally. During meetings with students in small and large groups April 2-3, 2019, Vora advocated for using exponential thinking and out-of-the-box solutions to address massive threats to the planet and its people. Faculty Director and Vice Chair of Medicine and Digital Biology at Singularity University, Vora also shared her expertise at the intersection of genetics, biology and digital technology with the RE families during an evening event. Cuban Writer Shares Her Journey Veciana-Suarez helps illuminate immigrant life Living on the Cutting Edge Scientist tells RE students to think huge explaining the inspiration behind her novel Flight to Freedom . Each student in the middle school read the book in advance of OBODOS, a now-annual celebration of reading and learning. Veciana-Suarez addressed the student body in Swenson Hall to kick “The future is not something that happens to you,” Vora said. “It’s something that you build, it’s something that you design, it’s something that you make.” Vora explained the operating philosophy at Singularity University, whose headquarters are at NASA Research Park at Moffett Field, Calif., is to look for moonshots, transformative ideas that are sometimes called “loon- shots” she said, “because, you sound like a crazy person when you start talking about them.” She provided examples of companies tackling major problems in innovative ways in fields related to off the March 13, 2019, event, then moved to the Braman Media Center to conduct writing seminars. The novel, based on a young girl’s flight from Cuba in 1967, reflected the theme of OBODOS: Immigration and Miami in the ’60s. “All of us are immigrants in some way,” said Veciana-Suarez, who also addressed parents in a talk on March 11, 2019, at Swenson Hall. “We’ve all been a stranger in a strange land … Creating itself is a form of migration. Creative people travel in their mind and soul; we travel in search of truth.” Veciana-Suarez arrived to the United States from Havana when she was six years old. A longtime columnist with the Miami Herald , she also wrote the Chin Kiss King and Birthday Parties in Heaven . Librarian Barbara Share once again organized the event with help from the entire middle school faculty. sustainability and climate change, animal protection, space exploration and disability care. “We’re not just trying to make the world a little bit better,” she said. “We’re trying to make it completely different.” Vora works with Chris Cowart ’89 , a faculty member in design and corporate innovation. She earned undergraduate degrees in biology and chemistry at New York University and did her PhD research in the Department of Molecular Biology at Princeton University. Her visit illustrates RE’s commitment to inviting global speakers who challenge and engage the school comunity. Photograph by Nick Otto