FALL 2025 Ransom Everglades LOG 31 20 Ransom Everglades students named National Merit Semifinalists Dramatic Interpretation, Duo Interpretation and Program Oral Interpretation – disciplines that require sophisticated performance skills and storytelling. By the end of her ninth-grade year, she qualified for the national championship in Program Oral Interpretation as the first alternate. As a sophomore, she finished third in Program Oral Interpretation at a national tournament at the University of Pennsylvania, then finished sixth at the prestigious end-of-season Tournament of Champions event in Lexington, Kentucky. “That’s when I realized, ‘Wow, I can definitely do this,’” she said. As a junior, she finished fifth in the nation at the national championship event. She began the 2024-25 season with several victories in Duo Interpretation with Lucas Sanchez ’27 but, as January approached, she grew dissatisfied with the solo piece she had developed to perform: a Dramatic Interpretation program about grief. She did not feel inspired by the topic. When she revealed her feelings to Hamm during a lunch conversation – they agreed she should assemble a program that explored her identity as it had been shaped by Hispanic culture, a topic more impactful and inspiring for Colina. Colina, who was born in the United States but is of Venezuelan descent and spent most of her youth in Venezuela, decided to completely redo the program for Dramatic Twenty Ransom Everglades were named National Merit Semifinalists in the 2025 National Merit Scholarship Program competition, a distinction that places them among the top one percent of high school seniors nationwide based on their performances on the PSAT exam. Each earned the opportunity to compete for $2,500 National Merit Scholarships and additional awards; RE has only had 20 or more semifinalists twice since 2014, and the last time was in 2017. Semifinalists (L-R) Max Grunwald ’26, Minnie Zhou ’26, Oliver Duwin ’26, Sofia Rhone-Fernandez ’26, Patrick Keedy Brown ’26, Beatrice Hernandez ’26, Armin Stamate ’26, Erela Yashiv ’26, Jacob Aronow ’26, Olivia Michelsen ’26, Virginia Seabrook ’26, Charlotte Gould ’26, Matheus Dabus ’26, Eliana Silberwasser ’26, Aarav Jindal ’26, Ryan Alesandro ’26, Connor Alfonso ’26, Constantino Pena ’26, Gustavo do Valle ’26, Wes Griffin ’26 (not pictured). Interpretation – something almost unheard of at that point in the season. “It was one of the crazier things I had ever done in speech and debate,” she said. A mere two weeks later, she debuted Legitimate Kid – and finished first at a tournament in North Carolina. That’s when she knew she was on the right track. At the Florida state championship in March, she also finished first. By the time she got to nationals – even after the disturbance – she was ready. “Moments before I went on stage, I was thinking, ‘I just need to keep breathing. This is the culmination of the past four years of my life,’” she recalled. “Just do what I do best, and just tell a story. Really make people feel, take them somewhere. “It was giving a voice to people that did not feel represented before that performance,” she continued. “I was so excited ... I can’t event explain it – it was just so electric on stage.” “Ransom Everglades ... is like a family … That is very, very important, especially when you’re in a tournament and the stakes are so high.” – Claudia Colina ’25
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