LOG FALL 2025 dREaming Big Ali (Salaverria) Mejia ’90 RansomEverglades Inside: Erik Medina ’21 Joe Mauro Report of Giving 2024-25
Executive Editor Amy Shipley Associate Editor / Photography Director Suzanne Kores Art & Design Kim Foster Contributing Editors Kim Arredondo Susana Norcini Vicki Carbonell Williamson ’88 Contributing Writers Sofia Andrade ’19 J.P. Arrastía Kim Arredondo Victoria M. Beatty ’00 Matt Margini Katrina Patchett Maggie Pearson ’80 Rachel Rodriguez Amy Shipley Rhonda Smith Photographers Jenny Abreu Jorge Ascui Debora Cabrera Carl Kafka Jill Kahn Suzanne Kores Princeton Archives RE Archives Vicki Carbonell Williamson ’88 Front and back cover: Suzanne Kores Contact Us Ransom Everglades School Office of Communications 3575 Main Highway, Coconut Grove, FL 33133 T: 305 460 8212 E: REnews@ransomeverglades.org To change your address, remove yourself from our mailing list or send a letter to the editor please send an email to REnews@ransomeverglades.org. Find the RE Log online at www.ransomeverglades.org/alumni/re-log-magazine Submit Class Notes for Spring 2026 at bit.ly/RE-class-notes The Ransom Everglades Log aims to connect, inform and engage readers in the life of Ransom Everglades School. It is published by the Ransom Everglades Office of Communications. 18 6 12 18
DEPARTMENTS FEATURES 6 Comfort, Creativity, Community Ali (Salaverria) Mejia ’90 follows her fashion dreams and scores with softness 12 Forty Years and Counting History and social sciences teacher Joe Mauro extends his legacy at the middle school 18 Meet RE’s Youngest Teacher Research phenom and Princeton valedictorian, Erik Medina ’21, returns to RE 38 Journey of a Goodness Entrepreneur An interview with Annie Lord ’97, Executive Director of Miami Homes for All 45 Report of Giving 2024-25 2 From the Pagoda 23 Why I Give 24 On Campus 27 Student News 34 Sports 36 Reconnecting with Faculty Emeritus 40 Alumni News 59 Class Notes 78 In Loving Memory 80 From the Archives Ransom Everglades Log Fall 2025 38 45
2 Ransom Everglades LOG FALL 2025 From The Pagoda It is a privilege to steward Ransom Everglades during this special time in our school’s great history. As RE’s national and international stature continues to rise, one can almost feel a simultaneous increase in unity and community. During the last school year, as RE was recognized as a top-10 school in North America for the second straight year, every member of our professional community – for the first time in at least two decades – made a financial gift to the school. The 100-percent participation of our faculty and staff highlights the abundant Joy & Wellbeing on our campuses far more vividly than the fiscal bottom line. Our students are the beneficiaries, and they are thriving in the classroom and beyond. In a survey last spring, RE students described Ransom Everglades using words including “fun,” “community” and “care,” and nearly 90 percent of upper school students said they had a trusted adult on campus in whom to confide. Our students also indicated that they value – and practice – academic integrity. Needless to say, we were delighted with these results. We also learned this summer that 88 percent of RE students scored 4s or 5s on their AP examinations and the majority of RE test takers achieved the highest score of 5. This is great news, and it confirms what research tells us: that community, care and belonging are deeply intertwined with student achievement or, as we say it at Ransom Everglades: Honor & Excellence. Seventy years after the founding of Everglades School for Girls and more than 120 years after the start of the Florida-Adirondack School, we continue to feel the impact of grand ideas infused with big dreams and built on strong values and tireless dedication. Our alumni are REconnecting with each other and current students frequently and meaningfully, and our strongest supporters continue to ensure that we recruit and keep the highest-caliber teachers. Even our REimagined college counseling office, which seeks to ensure that each senior finds a great fit in the college process, achieved success last spring from every vantage point, including from the most traditional view of excellence as nearly 1 in 4 members of the Class of 2025 (38 out of 160 seniors) headed to an Ivy League school, Stanford, Duke or MIT this fall. Our gREat school is a testament to what dreaming big can accomplish, and this magazine aims to highlight some of our most ambitious dREamers. Alumna Ali (Salaverria) Mejia ’90 set aside Wall Street ambitions to pursue clothing design – namely, pajamas – an aspiration she carried from her high school days. Her passion and The Power of Ransom Everglades We are dREaming big Community, care and belonging are deeply intertwined with student achievement or, as we say it at Ransom Everglades: Honor & Excellence.” “
FALL 2025 Ransom Everglades LOG 3 persistence have made Eberjey one of the most successful sleepwear brands in the world, and you can read her story of softness on page 6. History and social sciences teacher Joe Mauro, meanwhile, has helped put generations of RE students on the path to success, launching them with a welcoming and encouraging classroom environment (see the story on page 12). Erik Medina ’21 illustrates how quickly RE alumni can leave their mark on the world; at Princeton University, his professors were so awed by his classroom work and research into the significant problem of upcycling plastics that he was named valedictorian last spring – an extraordinary honor. We are thrilled that he chose to come to RE as a chemistry teacher in 2025-26 before entering a PhD program next fall; read more in the story on page 18 by Sofia Andrade ’19 – another impressive young alum. Annie Lord ’97 never lost her desire to help mend the inequality she saw first-hand growing up in Coconut Grove, so after graduating from Harvard and exploring various career paths she jumped at the opportunity to make a lasting impact at Miami Homes for All. Her efforts to curb housing inequality in Miami earned her the Founders’ Award for Distinguished Service to the Community this past spring, and you can read more about her dreams for a more equitable society in a story by Victoria Beatty ’00, an education consultant to Ransom Everglades. Learn how Roxi Vadia Morgenstern ’75 and Cheyenne Range ’14 are separated by generations but united in service to RE; they shared this past year’s Head of School’s Award for Distinguished Service to the School (page 40), and find out more about another record-setting year of giving to The Fund for RE in the 2024-25 Report of Giving on page 45. The school raised $5.6 million to ensure that students have everything they need to live out our core values. In our “From the Archives” department at the end of this magazine, you will be reminded that Everglades founders Marie and Ed Swenson aspired to create a school that would not only provide a superior education to their daughter and her friends, but would also make a “lasting contribution to the Florida educational landscape.” As this magazine makes clear, that impact continues, and it is REsounding. Rachel Rodriguez Head of School Our great school is a testament to what dreaming big can accomplish, and this magazine aims to highlight some of our most ambitious dREamers.” “
4 Ransom Everglades LOG FALL 2025 For the first time in at least two decades, the entire professional community at Ransom Everglades made a donation to The Fund for RE. From first-year teachers to those with decades of experience, and including every facilities team member, every administrative assistant and every leadership team member, all showed their belief in the power of a Ransom Everglades education with a gift in 2024-25.
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Comfort, Creativity, Community Ali (Salaverria) Mejia’90 follows her fashion dreams and scores with softness By Matt Margini Humanities Department Faculty Student fundraisers at Ransom Everglades tend to take a few recognizable forms. Bake sales. Concessions at games. Car washes. When she was senior class president, Ali (Salaverria) Mejia’90 organized something very different: a fashion show. Walking by the United Colors of Benetton store that was then in the Mayfair in the Grove building, she wondered how much money she could raise for charity if the items on offer were vibrant, chunky crewnecks and corduroys from a trendy brand instead of aluminum foil-wrapped brownies. A lot, as it turns out. The store provided clothes, RE students modeled them, and parents bought them. “It was a pivotal moment for me,” Mejia said. “The excitement it created, the money we raised, and the way it blended creativity and entrepreneurship all lit something in me.” In some ways, you couldn’t ask for clearer foreshadowing. Less than a decade later, Mejia would go on to co-found Eberjey, a sleepwear and lingerie brand that has become an international name – and for those who have worn Eberjey pajamas (including, full disclosure, yours truly), a synonym for a certain kind of irresistible softness. Since its founding in 1996, Eberjey has earned a host of recognitions, including brand of the year, designer of the year, best pajamas and among “Oprah’s Favorite Things.” But the RE fashion show wasn’t merely a preview of her future in the industry. It was one of the first times she chose to ignore the conventional path and listen to an intuition that told her to try something different. 6 Ransom Everglades LOG FALL 2025
Photos by Suzanne Kores FALL 2025 Ransom Everglades LOG 7
8 Ransom Everglades LOG FALL 2025 After emigrating to the United States from El Salvador at age 7, Mejia grew up on Key Biscayne, where she had an outdoorsy and active childhood. Her interest in fashion started to emerge when her mother would “drag her” to the local seamstress to get garments altered – a process that fascinated and inspired her. “I think it was reimagining something,” Mejia recalled. “Seeing the power of a little tweak to change how the garment looked and felt. It blew my mind.” Those trips to the seamstress remained a creative outlet throughout middle and high school, to the point that they often felt like collaborations – for Mejia, an early taste of fashion design. But she became intensely focused on sports and academics. At RE she played soccer, volleyball and tennis, and she remembers volleyball boot camp, three weeks before school, as the place where she learned the kind of discipline that would propel her from RE to Princeton. She also remembers the quiet influence of social studies teacher and soccer coach Ken Farshtey, who gave her space to be creative and introspective. “He was very soft spoken, and very inquisitive, and he challenged me to see things differently,” she recalled. From the perspective of her classmate and best friend, Vanessa Chartouni-de la Serna ’90, Ali was the “all-rounder”– good at everything and Most Likely to Succeed. “She was an amazing student, a great soccer player, a great volleyball player,” Chartouni said. “She was very strong in so many different areas.” Even so, Chartouni saw glimpses of the creativity that simmered at the margins of Mejia’s hustle. “The place I saw it was in her love of fashion and writing,” she said. “I don’t remember if it was 10th or 11th grade, but she told me that, one day, she was going to either design greeting cards or make lingerie.” After RE, Mejia climbed a traditional yet dauntingly competitive path toward professional success, leveraging her excellent coursework at Princeton – where she majored in politics and Latin American studies – into a financial analyst job at a prominent Wall Street bank. She knew it wasn’t her passion. She also knew she’d worked too hard to get there to do anything else. But then, six months into the job, her entire team of analysts was laid off. She reached a turning point. While her colleagues found themselves scrambling to land a gig at any bank that would have them, she bought a ticket to Florence and wandered the cobblestone streets, drinking in the atmosphere of art, beauty and craftsmanship. “I thought, ‘Why am I not doing something creative? I need to live this life,’” Mejia said. “Florence is where I had my epiphany. That’s when I was quiet. I was listening within.” She found herself thinking back to her mother’s elegant European pajamas, which had fascinated her as a kid. Nothing in the American market came close. Victoria’s Secret lingerie was hypersexualized, almost pitched more to men than it was to women. At the other extreme, Calvin Klein was marketing androgynous PJs that draped the body shapelessly. “I wanted to educate the U.S. consumer that this is something that is really needed,” Mejia said. “I saw it as a feeling, an emotion connected with self-care and honoring the authentic. It was a difficult proposition at first. People didn’t get it. But I knew they would, eventually.” Mejia returned to Miami, moved back in with her parents, and started incubating a new idea: sleepwear for women, by women. She took a job at the direct marketing agency Wunderman Cato Johnson and spent every free moment designing a new line of prototypes that she brought to a pattern maker in Miami Beach. At lunch, she talked about them nonstop to her coworker Mariela Rovito. They shared similar backstories – Rovito, too, had grown up in Miami after emigrating from Argentina at age 7 – and a similar entrepreneurial itch. They decided to go for it. They wrangled over what to call their new company, seeking something unique and memorable. One night, the pair attended an African dance recital during which the performers chanted the word ebberrjeyyy. “We looked at each other and instantly knew – that’s the name,” Mejia said last spring. “It sounded French, had a melodic quality, and rhymed with ‘lingerie’ and ‘negligee.’ Later, Ali Mejia ’90 with her mother Ali Mejia ’90 playing girls’ soccer at RE Ali Mejia ’90 (right) with Mariela Rovito, Eberjey co-founder
we discovered that ‘Eberjey’ meant “allencompassing joy,” which we felt perfectly encapsulated the essence of the brand we envisioned.” They had a great name, but little else. They knew nothing about the fashion industry, had no connections and had no capital save for $10,000 each from their personal savings. “We were navigating manufacturing, margins, branding, you name it – everything, all of it, on instinct. And the challenges really came in waves,” Rovito said. They were only 23, but they knew, at least, that they had complementary skillsets: Mejia was the visionary, Rovito the businesswoman. “It’s one of the truest examples from my life of when I say ‘ignorance is bliss,’” Rovito reflected. “We were naive.” Mejia added. “But it didn’t set us back.” Slowly but surely, Mejia and Rovito built the brand. They reinvested their modest profits, traveled to every trade show they could and hired a New York P.R. firm to do Eberjey “desksides” with editors at fashion magazines. By the early 2000s, Eberjey products were on the rack at Anthropologie, itself a growing brand that gave them the ability to sell to even bigger retailers such as Saks and Nordstrom. More opportunities came knocking when, around 2005, another brand pulled out and they were able to secure a full-page ad in Vogue. Things were going well until Eberjey ran into some of the challenges that any young business runs into. They overdiversified into different product lines: swimwear, maternity, baby clothes. Growth plateaued. “You can’t be everything to everyone, and being better at some things is probably going to get you further than trying to be okay at a lot of things. That was a hard lesson for all of us to learn,” Rovito said. But another transformative epiphany came when Mejia went to a show in Paris and found samples of a silky-soft modal – a type of fabric made from beech-tree pulp. She brought a few yards back to the Eberjey sample room. “I was making camisoles and boyshorts with it, because that made sense,” Mejia recalled. “But I had made a pajama in cotton in beautiful men’s shirting material. They were hanging next to each other, and I thought, ‘Wait a minute, what if I cut that pajama in that fabric? That would make the perfect modern pajama.” “I remember when she showed me that sample and we both were just standing there in the design room going, ‘My god,’” Rovito recalled. The pajamas were an instant hit that became Eberjey’s defining product. Mejia and Rovito seized on their appeal and refocused the business. They started releasing pajamas in every permutation: short pajamas, cropped pajamas, tank-top pajamas, kids’ pajamas. They made men’s pajamas. They even, at one point, collaborated with another brand to make pajamas for dogs. The biggest lesson I’ve learned is it’s all about focus,” Mejia said. “That’s how you scale.” The brand continued to grow throughout the 2010s, in part because it resonated intrinsically with some of the social media-fueled trends – wellness, self-care, sustainability – that other brands were trying to chase. Two significant accolades landed in 2020: Eberjey was named Brand of the Year by an influential industry trade show and was awarded the Designer of the Year Award by Salon International de la Lingerie. And then, Covid hit. The worldwide shock FALL 2025 Ransom Everglades LOG 9 Ali Mejia ’90 (second from left) celebrating early Eberjey success.
10 Ransom Everglades LOG FALL 2025 of the pandemic threatened, at first, to plunge the company into bankruptcy. With department stores closing, Mejia and Rovito had warehouses stocked with product and nowhere to sell it. They were left with one option: ramp up their online business and sell directly to consumers. The gambit paid off when, come Mother’s Day, people were flocking to the Eberjey website to buy lockdown-ameliorating PJs. “I think, through Covid, it really became this comfort food,” Chartouni said. From the perspective of Jade Dennis ’27, a fashion editor at the RE student newspaper (The Catalyst), who has interviewed Mejia and written about the brand, the appeal of Eberjeys was also about elevating life at home: feeling comfortable in style. “Because everybody was at home, people wanted to feel at least a little dressed up. You’re not going to dinner. You’re not putting on heels and a cute outfit, but you’re putting on your Eberjeys and drinking your coffee and feeling a little bit like you have something,” Dennis said. Today, Eberjey has reached the kind of saturation point that most brands can only dream of. Generations of international consumers and RE community members – parents, students, faculty – are obsessed with it. “Everybody knows Eberjey. I love my Eberjeys, They’re the softest pajamas ever,” Dennis said. “[Mejia] had an idea, and she executed it very well, and it’s inspiring because it’s somebody I know who went to RE. As a student, that’s pretty cool to see.” In December 2024, Mejia and Rovito stood in Times Square and watched a digital billboard for the brand splash across a set of towering, 16-story screens. What brought them pride was not just the fact that their brand was in Times Square. The ad was strikingly wholesome: a family in matching red PJs, laughing together on Christmas morning. “We were up there with a photo of a family connecting and being themselves, not in a Victoria’s Secret-like, catalog-y pose. The ad carried a different energy,” Mejia said. Now, while serving as creative advisor at Eberjey’s global headquarters in Coral Gables (Eberjey also has a retail store at the Shops at Merrick Park) Mejia has turned her focus to the concept of creativity itself, which she reflects on in Instagram posts and an upcoming children’s book called The Butterfly Studio. To her, creativity is softness, and softness isn’t just a physical sensation; it’s a metaphor for the kind of openness to the inner voice, the creative spark inside, that ended up propelling her unorthodox career path. For me, softness is leaning into what my heart really wanted,” Mejia said, “letting it guide me toward my passion and, ultimately, my purpose.” Eberjey employees enjoy a Mother’s Day retreat in the Hamptons
FALL 2025 Ransom Everglades LOG 11 The Fund for RE supports every corner of our two campuses — from arts and athletics to DEI, financial aid, faculty development and more. Your gift helps us offer exceptional experiences and uphold our commitment to The RE Way. When our whole community participates, we inspire others to give. Support what you love about RE and make a lasting impact on our students’ growth, success and future. To make a gift, visit www.ransomeverglades.org/make-a-gift THE FUND FOR RANSOM EVERGLADES IS THE MOST IMPORTANT FUNDRAISING PRIORITY FOR THE SCHOOL
12 Ransom Everglades LOG FALL 2025 Photos by Suzanne Kores
Forty Years and Counting History and social sciences teacher Joe Mauro extends his legacy at the middle school FALL 2025 Ransom Everglades LOG 13
14 Ransom Everglades LOG FALL 2025 “I try to teach respect – respect for self, respect for others – in everything they do. Always give 100 percent and always treat your classmates with kindness.” – Joe Mauro he year was 1985. President Ronald Reagan was in his second term of office. Madonna reigned as the Queen of Pop on MTV. Teenagers showed off their latest piece of technology, the Sony Discman, while rollerskating down Miracle Mile. That same year, an enthusiastic and eager teacher, Joe Mauro, walked onto the Ransom Everglades campus for the first time. Regardless of all that was happening around him, it is the students whom he remembers most. “My first impression was how grown up and mature the kids were,” he recalls. “I was also impressed by their intelligence.” That student-centered, student-focused mindset that guided him during his first years of teaching remains the foundation of his classroom in his 41st year at RE. Mauro’s fingerprints are all over the Ransom Everglades middle school experience. He doesn’t just attend events; he plans them. He doesn’t just coach teams; he builds cultures of teamwork, sportsmanship and pride. New faculty seek him not just for guidance, but also to learn from his actions. During his time as a Raider, Joe Mauro has become synonymous with Ransom Everglades, serving in roles that have shaped the school. Throughout his career, he’s served as teacher, coach, athletic director, field trip coordinator, history and geography team sponsor, mentor for new faculty and assistant head of the middle school. Mauro hasn’t been just involved; he has been essential. And he’s been essential for multiple generations of students. At middle school open houses in recent years, he has been routinely reunited with former students who are now parents of current students. Amy Sayfie Zichella ’93, RE Director of Admission and Enrollment Management, has experienced Joe Mauro from multiple vantage points: as a student, a fellow teacher (she served as an English teacher early in her career) and, most recently, as an RE parent. When she learned that her daughter, Abby Zichella ’29, would have a class with the man she still refers to as “Mr. Mauro,” she was ecstatic. T By J.P. Arrastía English Faculty Member “Having Mr. Mauro as my teacher in middle school was one of the most special parts of my Ransom Everglades experience,” Sayfie Zichella said. “However, nothing compares to the fullcircle moment when my daughter also had the privilege of being his student. Sharing ‘Mr. Mauro stories’ with her and seeing her experience the same joy I once did is something I’ll treasure forever. He is truly one of a kind, and our community is so lucky to have had his influence for four decades.” One of the earliest, and most unexpected, hats he wore was as the school’s summer camp director only two years into his time at RE. “That was the summer of ’87,” he says. “I was pretty new to the school, and it was a lot of responsibility – but it was a lot of fun.” Mauro just didn’t keep the camp running. He turned it into a memorable, meaningful experience for campers and staff alike. RE’s Camp by the Bay remains one of the most popular summer camps in South Florida today. That early challenge was the first of many times Mauro would say “yes” to opportunities, no matter how big. No task was too intimidating for Mauro, including presenting a revolutionary program to the school’s board of directors. Without him, RE’s Breakthrough Miami Scholars may not be enriching the student body today. He says one of his greatest accomplishments was “being able to present the concept of Summerbridge, now known as Breakthrough Miami, to our board of directors and having it be accepted.” That idea, brought to life by co-founders John Flickinger ’74 and Doug Weiser ’74, has since grown into a life-changing opportunity for thousands of students across South Florida. This is the kind of impact few teachers can claim, and it all started with a conversation a young teacher had the courage to bring forward. “When I think of the number of lives [that] have been impacted by Breakthrough, it’s pretty humbling,” he said. Breakthrough Miami has since become a model of educational equity and opportunity, serving students at RE’s middle school and seven other locations across South Florida. Reflecting on his legendary time at Ransom Everglades, Mauro can’t help but Joe Mauro with the 2023 National History Bowl champion team.
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.
16 Ransom Everglades LOG FALL 2025 Yet as the decades changed the buildings, the surrounding Coconut Grove community and the world, Mauro believes one thing remains the same: middle schoolers. “I’d say two things have never changed – their genuineness and their enthusiasm. They let you know what they are thinking and how you are doing all the time.” That openness creates an opportunity to create a classroom environment where students feel safe to challenge ideas, explore perspectives and even laugh. Mauro embraces it all with humility and humor. And it is Mauro’s ability to connect and relate with these growing minds that has allowed him to create meaningful relationships with them. “Mutual respect between students and the teacher will always be a key to a successful classroom,” he said. “I genuinely want to hear what the students have to say, and I think they realize and appreciate that.” Mauro recalls many laugh-out-loud interactions with students, but one in particular came with a roundabout compliment. He remembers one day he was proctoring a final exam, and a student kept getting his name wrong. After the student called him Mr. Kappelman and Mr. Siegler in the same conversation, Mauro couldn’t help but smile. “I took that as a compliment. Mr. Kappelman, Mr. Siegler and I worked together at the middle school for 37 years – how many schools can say that?” And although Mauro continues to give credit to those around him, he is correct in stating that not many schools have teachers like these. Although many of his students will remember Mauro as a coach, a teacher, a mentor and a lifelong advocate, he hopes that they will remember more than just dates and facts. He hopes they walk away with values and empathy. “I try to teach respect – respect for self, respect for others – in everything they do. Always give 100 percent and always treat your classmates with kindness.” This message has echoed through generations of Raiders, and it continues to shape our school culture and community today. Joe Mauro’s story isn’t just a timeline of service or a laundry list of accomplishments. It is a living legacy of community, leadership, learning and laughter. “Joe is generous with his time and available to listen,” says Ali Fisher, who has worked with Mauro for 17 years. Mauro served as Fisher’s department coordinator until he recently passed the role on to her. Through that transition, Fisher appreciated his humble mentoring. “He always asks if I want advice before giving it,” she says. “What I appreciate most is his respect, even when we disagree. I am lucky to have him as my mentor, and privileged to call him my friend.” “Undisputedly the G.O.A.T. of history teachers.” – Jack Gonzalez ’28 Joe Mauro in the 1985-86 yearbook
FALL 2025 Ransom Everglades LOG 17 Raider Gear RE Store Get your Raider gear! Show your Raider Pride!
18 Ransom Everglades LOG FALL 2025 Photos by Suzanne Kores and courtesy of Princeton University
FALL 2025 Ransom Everglades LOG 19 By Sofia Andrade ’19 Erik Medina ’21 often joked with his high school friends that, one day, they would all “come back and take over Ransom Everglades.” They imagined that, in a few decades and with varied career successes already under their belt, they would return to old RE as triumphant alumni to teach and lead at their alma mater, as they had seen generations before them do. What Medina hadn’t imagined back then, though, was that his role in the grand homecoming scheme would begin a lot earlier: just a few months after his college graduation, to be exact. And he could never have conceived of the circumstances of his return: He arrived at RE this past summer as the most recent valedictorian of Princeton University, where he amazed peers and professors alike with his groundbreaking research on upcycling plastics that landed him his first published paper. One of Ransom Everglades’ newest faculty members, and the youngest, Medina is teaching chemistry alongside former mentors including Paul Natland ’02. He joined a team of faculty including Marlen Nuñez de Varela, Yuria Sharp, Jay Salon and Keiffer Scott in teaching RE sophomores the last of their pre-assigned science classes before they’re able to take advanced AP classes or specialized offerings like Introduction to Forensic Science. “This is really exciting for me,” he said in an interview inside the Constance & Miguel Fernandez STEM Center. While he is teaching general chemistry rather than the organic chemistry he focused on in college, Medina has enjoyed the opportunity to go back to basics and welcome young people into his love for the science. “Because it’s the only chemistry class students are required to take, I get to not only lay the foundation, but also close it out in a way. And I’m very excited to do that, to learn how to make it fun and engaging, or at least try to make people see chemistry as exciting as I see it. It’s a really cool opportunity.” Walking across the upper school campus with Medina one balmy summer morning, on a day when much of the faculty happened to be on campus for trainings and other business, his enduring popularity among his former teachers and soon-to-be colleagues was evident. At every stop on our walk – the Miller Quad, the dining hall, the Ansin Breezeway, La Brisa – a faculty member or three would approach Medina with lit-up faces, congratulating him on his new post or offering a friendly word of advice. All of them greeted him with a big bear hug, and he shared his gratitude for the opportunity to join such an esteemed faculty at RE. Meet RE’s Youngest Teacher Research phenom and Princeton valedictorian, Erik Medina’21, returns to RE
20 Ransom Everglades LOG FALL 2025 Described by his RE peers in 2021 as “the go-to man on campus,” Medina has long been known for doing it all, and doing it well. A few bullet points in a vertigo-inducing resume: A polyglot and grandchild of Cuban immigrants, Medina speaks Spanish, French, Mandarin and English. During his time at Ransom Everglades, he was frequently recognized with academic awards and other achievements to the surprise of none of his peers, who saw him as an intelligent, humble and generous classmate. At Princeton, Medina spent four years as a chemistry major and generous community member, dedicating his time to teaching science to university peers and younger students in various settings. His thesis research in organic chemistry proposed a novel way to upcycle difficult-to-recycle PVC plastics into pharmaceutically valuable compounds. The title? “Burning Rubber Duckies with Flashlights: Applications of Photothermal Conversion to PVC Chemical Upcycling,” This spring, he became co-first author for a peer-reviewed paper in the Journal of the American Chemistry Society and was accepted into a PhD program at the University of Wisconsin, which he will attend in the fall of 2026. Ransom Everglades’ valedictorian in 2021, Medina did not miss a beat when he settled in at one of the nation’s premier academic institutions. “There wasn’t anything that he didn’t excel at,” said longtime Princeton chemistry professor Michael Kelly in a news release from the university. “He was a student with me in three separate courses, earning an A+ in all three. I teach the core laboratory course, which spans the breadth of chemistry – from biology to quantum physics – and I’ve never had one student be the best at all of them before.” Medina chalked up his academic success in high school and college to a carefully calibrated combination of “hard work and luck.” But while the list of achievements is, seemingly, never-ending, peers and faculty mentors agree that what sets Medina apart are his humility and drive to get things done. Medina, as his achievements thus far would suggest, is a certified go-getter. For example, if you asked Medina what brought him back to Ransom Everglades, he might tell you: “It’s something that I’ve kind of been angling for since freshman year [of college].” Coming back to teach was something he had “wanted for a long time,” so he chose to spend his first two college summers working at RE’s Pine Knot Camp. He loved teaching there, and already knew he wanted to try a year of radically different work before attending “There wasn’t anything that he didn’t excel at.” – Princeton chemistry professor Michael Kelly
FALL 2025 Ransom Everglades LOG 21 graduate school, so he made every effort to stay in touch. Not only did coming back to RE make perfect sense career-wise, but, according to Medina’s plans, at least, it had been a long time coming. Medina’s now decade-long relationship with Ransom Everglades began serendipitously, with a fateful meeting one day in 2012 at the Starbucks on Bayshore Drive. Medina was, at the time, a student at the Key Biscayne K-8 Center, where his mother is a long-time teacher. He had excelled in his elementary school, so much so that, upon reaching fourth grade, two of his teachers recommended he jump directly to fifth grade instead, which he did. A year later, then in middle school, Medina found himself again the big fish in a too-small pond. One of his teachers, Cliona Walshe-Crawford, knew then- Ransom Everglades middle school teacher Josh D’Alemberte and orchestrated a meeting between the two at the Bayshore Starbucks, where they quickly hit it off. A few weeks after meeting with D’Alemberte, a 10-year old Medina found himself telling faculty on a campus tour of the upper school that his main interest was “particle physics.” He submitted an application and, a few months later, learned he had earned a spot in RE’s rising sixth-grade class (the seventhgrade class he would have been eligible for had no available spots). He finished his remaining time in fifth grade at Key Biscayne K-8 and prepared for his days as a Raider. While Medina’s parents, like many of the 17 percent of Ransom Everglades students who receive financial aid, were initially concerned about whether they would be able to afford the tuition, their fears were quickly assuaged by the school’s generous financial assistance. Looking back, Medina said he was “fortunate to grow up in a household that valued education so much,” and that he had been excited, upon joining RE, to dive deeper into what he saw as a “neverending wellspring of things to learn” from RE’s stellar faculty. Paraphrasing astronomer Carl Sagan, he reminisced about how “there’s something magical about science when you’re a kid, when you’re learning to understand the world.” That excitement Medina has felt toward the sciences since his early years is what he hopes to convey to his RE chemistry students this year. It’s the kind of excitement that makes someone read countless Basher Science books (a formative part of Medina’s childhood), watch more Discovery Channel than Disney Channel and skip recess to study the periodic table, which Medina frequently did. “To some degree that was just me, and it was a little bit insane. I make no pretenses about that, you know? I was very self-motivated in that sense. No one was making me do that,” Medina said. “But I do think I was fortunate that my curiosity was sparked very young.” Teaching chemistry and helping spark a curiosity in chemistry, he said, have their challenges. The subject is often presented as incredibly difficult, “I’m very excited to ... try to make people see chemistry as exciting as I see it.” – Erik Medina ’21 Erik Medina ’21 shares a research poster on upcycling plastics Erik Medina ’21 received the middle school Ransom Cup from Greg Noblet
Erik Medina ’21 in a lab at Princeton 22 Ransom Everglades LOG FALL 2025 or impenetrable, or removed from the real world day-today in a way other science subjects, like biology, aren’t. For a lot of students (myself included), chemistry can be found high on the list of “least favorite classes” – but, to Medina, it doesn’t have to be that way, and it shouldn’t be. “We need people who don’t do chemistry. If the world is all chemists, it’d be a really big problem. So, by no means do I expect people to share that [deep love of chemistry] or even to come anywhere close to that. But I do think that one of the biggest problems is that people aren’t exposed to how cool it really can be, and so it comes across as this huge drag,” he said. “It’s really not. There is nothing about chemistry that makes it harder than any other subject you could possibly try to learn.” Part of the problem, Medina says, is that many students feel they’re being asked to learn all of chemistry all at once, but he has tried to remedy that by taking his time with the curriculum and making sure to be professional and personable to his students, so that they can come to him for help the way his peers routinely do. He also has tried to move away from the all-digital classroom so that students can work closely with materials, with pen and paper, which he believes leads to better learning outcomes. He writes his own homework and test questions, hoping students will feel less enticed to use Google or ChatGPT, and also showing them the respect he feels they deserve by taking the time himself to create the work he will then ask of them. While Medina recognizes the inherent challenge in teaching students so close in age – Medina’s own younger brother is part of RE’s Class of 2029 – he has been grateful for the mentorship of other alumni-faculty members like Natland. During the hour-plus interview with Medina, I got to experience a hint of his teaching style. When I asked him to tell me about his thesis research, he took special care to explain everything in the most precise, accessible terms. He asked me frequent questions, making sure I – a student of the humanities through-andthrough – understood the basic concepts underlying his research. When I asked about his personal connection to the work of PVC upcycling, he told me that living in Miami, a city on the ocean deeply affected by pollution and climate change, was a motivating factor in trying to find more effective, less wasteful and toxic ways to reuse and create materials from plastics. It’s obvious that teaching comes easy to Medina. He speaks clearly and confidently, makes eye contact while explaining complex topics and takes his time to make sure he’s being understood. Maybe that facility for teaching is why Medina’s also hoping this year will bring with it some more of that “clairvoyance” that led him, in however roundabout a way, to RE in the first place. Currently at a sort of crossroads between undergraduate work and his PhD-to-come, Medina feels caught in the hard work of deciding if his future as a chemist lies in teaching, university research or industry work. “I don’t know yet that I want to do something in my life that actually requires going to grad school,” he said. “I think I would enjoy it as much as one could enjoy being a grad student ... but it’s such a long time. If I really don’t need it, is it the most productive use of my time? That was all floating in my head” during applications. Taking some time off to teach first, then, gives him a moment to reassess and recenter before diving into graduate research head-first. “In theory,” he continued, “teaching is something that I would like to pursue as a career, and I kind of wanted to know before I went to grad school whether or not that is actually something I wanted to do.” But while Medina might not be quite sure if his future lies in the classroom or a ways further from it, and while he might not have known that he would be returning to Ransom Everglades so quickly back when he and his friends joked about their eventual “takeover,” maybe his RE teachers and peers knew something he didn’t. “You could see how he loved teaching and tutoring. It was always clear, you know?” said Natland, who taught Medina in his last year at Ransom Everglades. “He loves sharing knowledge, sharing his love of things like chemistry. He just loves helping people understand things. And I think he’s got a gift for that. I think there was a sense, even within the year after he graduated, that there would be some way that he might [come back]. “It’s a blessing to work with him, whether he was a student or a peer. I’m excited to work with him as a colleague, honestly, being an alum of the school myself,” he added. “I know he’s got the right kind of passion for it.” “He just loves helping people understand things. And I think he’s got a gift for that.” – Paul Natland ’02
FALL 2025 Ransom Everglades LOG 23 A lifelong educator, Shelly Stamler devoted 16 years of service to Ransom Everglades as an English teacher, academic dean and administrative leader at the middle school. Shelly and her husband Cliff are also the proud parents of alumni, Sarah Stamler Serviansky ’01 and Marissa Stamler Canida ’06. Over the years, they have shown tremendous dedication to Ransom Everglades through The Fund for RE, capital projects and, most recently, through their contribution to The McMahon Faculty Endowment, which supports a cost-of-living allowance for all full-time faculty. Q: What inspires you and Cliff to pay it forward and stay involved as donors for so many years? What are your hopes for the impact and outcomes of your philanthropy? The answer is simple – teachers bring the magic to our children. They energize and inspire them to be curious, to love learning and to become lifelong learners. I am so proud of the Board of Trustees for recognizing that our teachers deserve our full support. During my time as a faculty member and administrator at the middle school, I witnessed daily how talented teachers capture the imagination of students. I’ll never forget the Friday afternoon at the middle school when an accreditation team member popped in on short notice for a school tour. What he saw that afternoon showcased teaching at its best. In George Kasyan’s physical science class, beakers bubbled on Bunsen burners as students logged results on their laptops and compared outcomes in real time. In a 6thgrade language class with Maria Eugenia Abrante, students proudly sang while signing in American Sign Language. And in the Band Room with Cathi Leibinger, it felt as if we’d walked into Stomp with students banging garbage pail lids in perfect rhythm. He turned to me and said, “This place is magic.” I answered, “Yes, it is – and the faculty are the magicians.” There is no substitute for a creative, inspiring, passionate and caring teacher. Our support for them is essential. Q: Was there a teacher in your life who shaped how you view education? I started out as an English teacher, and when Cliff and I moved to San Francisco, I decided to study law. We were required to take tax law, and as an English major, I really didn’t expect to enjoy this class. The professor who taught it had been named Teacher of the Year seven years in a row. He was such an inspiring teacher that I took more of his classes. He made tax law the most fascinating subject in school. I shared this experience with teachers to let them know that it is always the teacher who makes the subject come alive, no matter what the subject is. Q: What is happening at Ransom Everglades today that excites you? I’m especially excited about the cost-ofliving allowance to support RE’s teachers. In my book, a top priority is making sure the school attracts, supports and retains the very best faculty. I also had the opportunity to step in as a substitute at the upper school in the last school year, and it was exciting and gratifying to witness the level at which the ninth-grade students interacted with the literature they were studying. They were able to discuss the complex human emotions in Oedipus Rex and Macbeth and make connections between these pieces of literature and current events. Q: What makes Ransom Everglades teachers unique? Their enthusiasm and their love of what they do. They make learning hands-on, engaging and fun. The human element in teaching is irreplaceable, even with advanced technology and artificial intelligence. AI will never inspire enthusiasm or spark curiosity the way a teacher can. Who brings learning to life? It’s the teachers, always and forever. with Shelly Stamler Allan Serviansky ’99, Sarah Stamler Serviansky ’01, Marissa Stamler Canida ’06, Brian Canida, Seated: Shelly Stamler, Cliff Stamler By Kim Arredondo The Stamler family
24 Ransom Everglades LOG FALL 2025 The Class of 2025 heard words of encouragement and inspiration from valedictorian Andrew Gedde ’25. The seniors received thoughtful advice – and plenty of laugh-outloud one-liners – from famous filmmaker and commencement speaker Phil Lord ’93. And at the conclusion of the moving graduation ceremony on May 23, each senior walked across the Lewis Family Auditorium stage to collect a hard-earned Ransom Everglades diploma from board chair Miguel Dueñas ’95 and Head of School Rachel Rodriguez. Finally, amid green confetti and a shower of blue and green balloons, the Class of 2025 jubilantly departed campus as RE alumni – a new role that ensures they remain a part of RE forever. “This place is more than a school; it’s a community,” said Dueñas, who attended RE with his twin brother and both met their spouses at RE. “One that spans a lifetime, and across generations. Today, students, as you prepare to leave it behind, you join it in a new way: as alumni. That identity and all the wonderful memories you formed here will stay with you, long after your last class, your last assignment, or your last grade. You will cherish these memories and the friends that you have made here for the rest of your life.” The commencement speaker Lord – who along with professional partner Chris Miller is the creative genius behind Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, The Class of 2025 graduates into a welcoming alumni community On The Lego Movie and the Academy Awardwinning Spider-Man: Into the SpiderVerse – entertained seniors with a speech that veered from hilarious to deeply thoughtful. The end goal: to help seniors believe they could accomplish anything. “Your job now is to go forth and make your way with the same love and care with which you were raised and fed and educated and coached,” he said. “Don’t waste any more energy worrying if you have what it takes. You do. Don’t waste energy looking up to people like me like we have some kind of secret. We don’t.” Annie Lord ’97 received the Founders’ Award for Distinguished Service to the Community, then during brief remarks admonished seniors to consider career paths in public service or, as she described it, as “goodness entrepreneurs.” Lord, executive director at Miami Homes For All, works to ensure that all Miami-Dade residents have safe, affordable places to call home. (Read more on page 38.) Chief Operating Officer David Clark ’86 lauded her work advocating for policies and providing programs that increase the amount of affordable housing and Miami residents’ access to it. “I know from experience, there is no one better equipped to solve our society’s problems than you,” Lord said. “You are the cavalry. And in the future, many of you will likely help run this city. I invite you to come home and lead it. I believe in each of you and your core values, your discernment, your effectiveness and your vision to transform the ugliness in society into beauty. Whatever you choose in your life, I know you will contribute to the greater good.” Campus Phil Lord ’93 Andrew Gedde ’25 and John A. King Jr.
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