FALL 2025 Ransom Everglades LOG 15 “Joe is generous with his time and available to listen ... I am lucky to have him as my mentor, and privileged to call him my friend.” – Ali Fisher, middle school history and social sciences department coordinator think about how much things have changed … and how much they’ve stayed the same. Although he wasn’t around for the historic merger between the Ransom School for boys and the Everglades School for Girls in 1974, he sometimes wishes he had been. “That was a year that really changed the direction of the school,” he says. “Those students and faculty were trailblazers for the future.” It’s not surprising that Mauro sees himself in those trailblazers. Mauro’s own creative ideas and hard work have helped Ransom Everglades become one of the top 10 schools in North America according to prominent ratings organizations. Mauro was witness to the inaugural year of the sixth grade at the middle school in 1992. Mauro remembers, “That was a very special group of students and faculty. We were laser-focused on being successful.” Since then, Mauro has been behind some of RE students’ most impressive accomplishments as coach of RE’s middle school academic team. In 2019, Daniel Figueroa ’24 won the National History Bee for seventh graders in Chicago. That was followed by back-to-back grade-level national titles by Parker Jelke ’27 in Arlington, Va., in 2021 and Orlando in 2022. Two years ago, Mauro’s middle school team won the National History Bowl in Washington, D.C. “Not many schools can say that; I really think we have the most successful middle school history team program in the country.” Again, Mauro credits the team. But without his own hard work, sacrifice and enthusiasm, there would be no history team. “That’s the point about Joe Mauro: It all starts there,” said Lucas Miner ’20, who was introduced to the academic team by Mauro and went on to success at the upper school and on the quiz show Jeopardy! “He’s the one who finds the talent, incubates the talent, trains them on competition, helps them win and then sends them up to the high school to keep on doing what they are doing … if you have a culture like that, the team only gets better and better.” Mauro’s dedication is evident through the countless hours of preparation, weekend competitions and study sessions. Although winning is wonderful, he doesn’t coach his students for the trophies. He coaches them to think, to collaborate, and to fall in love with learning. “Mr. Mauro has the patience of a saint,” said Jack Gonzalez ’28, recalling how Mauro always put the interests of everyone on the team first, making sure all competitors were informed and prepared. “Undisputedly the G.O.A.T. of history teachers.” Spoken like a true young historian.
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