LOG Fall 2026 Matthew Beatty ’01 Paying It Forward RansomEverglades Inside: Arlene Sierra ’87 Portrait of a Ransom Everglades Graduate Report of Giving
Executive Editor Amy Shipley Associate Editor / Photography Director Suzanne Kores Art & Design Kim Foster Contributing Editors Rebecca Penn Noble ’07 Susana Norcini Rhonda Smith Vicki Carbonell Williamson ’88 Contributing Writers Leah Borromeo Matt Margini Rebecca Penn Noble ’07 Katrina Patchett Rachel Rodriguez Amy Shipley Vicki Carbonell Williamson ’88 Photographers Jorge Ascui Debora Cabrera Carl Kafka Jill Kahn Suzanne Kores RE Archives Front and back cover: Suzanne Kores Contact Us Ransom Everglades School Office of Communications 3575 Main Highway, Coconut Grove, FL 33133 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 2027 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. 16 Portrait of a Ransom Everglades Graduate 6 22
DEPARTMENTS FEATURES 6 Paying it Forward Matthew Beatty ’01 11 The Rocket Science of Music Arlene Sierra ’87 16 Portrait of a Ransom Everglades Graduate 22 The Future in Focus The Sundheim Humanities Center comes to life 47 Report of Giving 2025-26 2 From the Pagoda 28 Why I Give 30 On Campus 34 RE Arts 40 Sports 42 REconnecting with Faculty Emerita 44 Alumni News 55 Class Notes 74 In Loving Memory 76 From the Archives Ransom Everglades Log Fall 2026 40 35 33
2 Ransom Everglades LOG FALL 2026 From The Pagoda At the turn of the 20th century, Paul Ransom defined a central task for graduates when they departed Ransom Everglades: To leave the world better than they found it. More than 120 years later, with that mission still at the heart of an RE education, our academic leadership has sought to articulate something even deeper: what traits and habits characterize a Ransom Everglades graduate? What do RE alumni look like in action? What qualities do they carry into the world? Interviews and input from alumni, students and faculty, and internal reflection helped Ransom Everglades create the Portrait of a Ransom Everglades graduate that you will find on page 16. The portrait highlights attributes familiar to many of you: An RE graduate thinks deeply and creatively, and embraces change with confidence. An RE graduate leads with integrity, courage and purpose. An RE graduate serves others with compassion and builds inclusive communities. An RE graduate pursues excellence with humility and balance. Several alumni elaborated on our portrait with thoughts of their own, and many sought to offer words that best describe an RE alum. You will find their feedback in this spread, which serves as a companion to the Portrait of a Ransom Everglades Graduate video we released this fall – and which you can view via a QR code attached to the story. Besides that very special portrait, this magazine features two additional portraits of impressive graduates. Beginning on page 6, you will enjoy learning about Matthew Beatty ’01 and his lifelong quest to make a difference in Miami-Dade County and, in particular, the Black community. His impact, whether in helping to launch Give Miami Day or through novel programs at the Carrie Meek Foundation, has been outsized and was captured brilliantly in the story by English teacher Matt Margini. You will also appreciate reading about Arlene Sierra ’87, a renowned composer and music professor based in London. Arlene fell in love with the natural world at Ransom Everglades, and she has woven her passion into the extraordinary works that have marked her career in musical composition. Her success in a historically maledominated field serves as an inspiration for young women in music. A Portrait of a Ransom Everglades Graduate An RE graduate thinks deeply and creatively, and embraces change with confidence.” “
FALL 2026 Ransom Everglades LOG 3 I’m proud to introduce other features in this magazine. We offer a look at the soon-to-come Sundheim Humanities Center, a 30,000-square-foot facility that will serve as an academic partner to the Fernandez STEM Center at the upper school. The visual essay starting on page 22 includes insights from RE families who are supporting the project; please take time to learn how you can contribute to a facility that will continue the exciting transformation of the upper school at RE. You can peruse our annual Report of Giving beginning on page 47, which offers proof that the RE community believes in the special power of an RE education. I loved the testimony provided by Alex Kleyner and Diana Ulis P’31 ’32, in the “Why I Give” feature on page 28. The couple paid homage to their mothers – both teachers – with their contribution to the Patrick and Kristen McMahon Faculty Endowment Fund, created in 2024 to ensure cost-of-living stipends for our full-time teachers in perpetuity. Our celebration of the Class of 2026 includes the now traditional photo in college T-shirts on the steps of the Fernandez STEM Center days before graduation. The photo on pages 4-5 taken by Communications Associate Suzanne Kores captures the joy of members of that class and the remarkable array of colleges and universities they are attending this fall. Our youngest alumni are officially on the purposeful path taken by many previous generations of Ransom Everglades graduates, living out the fullest expression of an RE education: To leave the world better than they found it. Rachel Rodriguez Head of School An RE graduate leads with integrity, courage and purpose.” “
RE collegiate alumni returned to campus during their winter breaks in January to REconnect with friends and former teachers. We invite all alumni to pay Ransom Everglades a visit during Alumni Weekend 2026 April 24-26. 4 Ransom Everglades LOG FALL 2026 Members of the Class of 2026 are attending 60 universities in 23 states and five countries
Photo by Suzanne Kores FALL 2026 Ransom Everglades LOG 5
6 Ransom Everglades LOG FALL 2026 By Matt Margini, Humanities Department Faculty Photos by Suzanne Kores When Matthew Beatty ’01 walked onto the stage of the Lewis Family Auditorium on January 15, it’s safe to say that the vast majority of Ransom Everglades students didn’t know who he was. That changed quickly. When he walked off, 25 years after graduating on that same stage, it was to a standing ovation. Beatty, who is the Market Director - Miami for the Miami-Dade Innovation Authority and recently earned the Ransom Everglades Founders’ Alumni Award for Distinguished Service to the Community, delivered a barnburner. The speech was eloquent and forceful in its efforts to connect the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. with RE’s history and values. “Because of what you’re getting here, you all are being trained to lead this world,” he said. “Other people’s lives will depend on your choices. The late, great Dr. Martin Luther King called you all the drum majors for justice. He is by far the best example that, when we live our purpose, there is nothing that we cannot reshape in the world around us.” The speech was notable not just because it was an unusual feat of oratory for 11 in the morning. It was also highly personal. The “we” predominated. Beatty made it clear that RE had provided some of the foundational bricks of the life he’s built as a force for good. And at the same time, in its very craftsmanship, the speech attested to another side of his journey that RE helped shape: his path to becoming among the most transformative communicators in the history of Miami’s nonprofit sector, to the tune of over $150 million in fundraising. In some respects, it makes sense that Beatty would go on to a career in civic engagement: he was born to two extraordinarily civic-minded parents. His father, the attorney Robert G. Beatty, worked as the Miami Herald’s general counsel and vice president for public affairs and served on the boards of several community organizations – including a financial advisory board for the City of Miami itself when the city faced budgetary shortfalls in the late ’90s. In 2007, he purchased and became the publisher of the South Florida Times, a Fort Lauderdalebased weekly that provides local news for the region’s Black communities. Beatty’s mother, Priscilla Beatty, was similarly active in civic life, contributing much of her limited time as a working parent to the Jessie Trice Community Health System and other causes in and around Liberty City. “I spent a lot of evenings doing my homework in the back of a boardroom while she was leading a meeting,” Beatty recalled. “Seeing all that growing up helped me understand that no matter what I chose to do professionally, there had to be part of my work that was serving my community.” From the beginning, a call to service was part of the family culture. But the call became louder after they joined the Church of the Open Door in Liberty City, when Beatty was around nine years old. The church became the place where Beatty discovered what it means to serve others in routine, hands-on ways. “I was expected to be deeply involved through the church youth group. We fed folks who were unhoused on the weekends, and it was expected that you do unto others as you would have others do unto you,” Beatty said. Paying It Forward For Matthew Beatty ’01, community service is a full-time job and lifelong pursuit “[I understood] that no matter what I chose to do professionally, there had to be part of my work that was serving my community.” – Matthew Beatty ’01
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8 Ransom Everglades LOG FALL 2026 At the same time, Beatty’s parents were also fierce champions of education. Robert was the first in his family to attend college, and he was insistent that Matthew and his older sister Victoria Beatty ’00 – now a law professor and a consultant for Ransom Everglades – see education as a source of both social mobility and selfpreservation for Black people growing up in America. “My dad always said, someone may not like you, or they may say you’re not qualified because of the color of your skin, but they can never say that you lack the education,” Beatty recalled. Thus, the place for him and his sister was Ransom Everglades. But Beatty’s experience at RE wasn’t always easy. He recalled spending much of the earlier years orbiting Victoria’s friend group of slightly older Black girls as a collective “little brother” figure. “I wasn’t sure if it was the fact that I was Black, and there wasn’t a ton of Black students there, or if it was the fact that I wasn’t a real athletic kid or wasn’t considered one of the ‘cool’ kids, but I spent those first couple of years trying to find my footing,” he said. RE’s academic rigor also posed a formidable challenge. But Beatty feels grateful for teachers who “didn’t let me slip through the cracks” as well as those who “pressed and pushed me even though I complained, because they knew I had more in me.” And he found a space of particular solace in the Black Students Association, led at the time by then-Dean of Students (and current RE Chief Operating Officer) David Clark ’86. “His guidance and support always validated what we were feeling as Black kids in the school, which was that, yes, we’re different, and that is okay, and we should still, in our differences, celebrate who we are, be comfortable with who we are, and show up as our full selves,” Beatty said. “Matthew really felt like it was his safe haven,” Clark recalled. “It made a difference in his life. He was probably one of those kids where it took him a while to figure out who he was. And then when he figured it out, he was good.” Beatty also found inspiration in his humanities classes – including an AP U.S. Government class that ventured far beyond the test to tackle questions of morality and civic responsibility. “There were a lot of discussions around not just learning our country’s system and how it’s set up, but how should people be governed?” he recalled. “We had much broader conversations about caring for communities, caring for people and what the best systems are to do that.” “I wanted it to be the central thing that I worked on every single day when I got up: to ensure that Black people were getting the equitable share of resources that they deserved in this country.” – Matthew Beatty ’01 Matthew Beatty ’01 interacts with children at the Belafonte TACOLCY Center
FALL 2026 Ransom Everglades LOG 9 Matthew Beatty ’01 photographs colleagues at The Miami Foundation after a successful Give Miami Day in 2018 By the end of his time at RE, he felt the inevitable pull (and some significant parental pressure) toward an Ivy – the University of Pennsylvania, to be specific. But he felt a calling to do something a little different. Inspired in part by the story of his maternal grandmother, a proud graduate of Florida A&M University, Beatty turned down his UPenn interview in secret and sent off an application to Florida A&M University (FAMU), one of the nation’s oldest public historically Black colleges. The experience of being at one of the nation’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) was transformative. “An HBCU validates you. It validates a Black person in a way that I don’t know that any other experience in this country can. It helped me recognize that I could design a life where who I was as a Black man was the first thing that I present to the world,” Beatty reflected. At FAMU, Beatty enrolled in a rigorous global business program where, as the old trope goes, the dean told students to look to their right, look to their left, and see the 60 percent of the room that wouldn’t graduate. This time, it ended up being true – and the peers who did last ended up being catapulted into upper-echelon careers in Washington and on Wall Street. But once again, a different path revealed itself – this time, when he started his first internship at a Black-owned, Miamibased PR firm called Sonshine Communications. He still remembers the moment he realized that the right message – and especially the right messenger – could change the material wellbeing of a whole community. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers was working on a major, multibillion-dollar Everglades restoration project, and they were struggling to get support from minority communities who would be directly affected. Beatty’s team found a group of teen poets and “conscious rappers” who had already found an audience in Miami-Dade – and took them kayaking. “We brought them into the studio the following day and recorded a song and a commercial that became a public service announcement,” Beatty recalled. “The song that they created was the first time I saw that bridge being built, [where they adapted] these complicated messages for people who may not have been aware of how important it was to their community and their neighborhood. It worked, and it landed.” Meet people where they are. Don’t rely on cookie-cutter, topdown messaging. Find a way to get the message into grocery stores, hair salons, people’s everyday lives. These were the lessons he learned from his experience at Sonshine, and they directly informed his next (and much more ambitious) project: Give Miami Day. After joining The Miami Foundation, Beatty was given the daunting task of figuring out a communications strategy that would inspire what was, by some metrics, the most civically unengaged metropolitan area in the U.S. to participate in a grassroots fundraising campaign for local nonprofits. The models that had worked (to some extent) in other cities were not exactly worth emulating. “All of the campaigns felt so dry and flat and traditional and old-school. Like, you know, ‘Give to support your community.’ “He can turn mediocre messages into positive ones, and he also, I think, is smart about writing in a voice that people can ‘hear.’” – Lucia Davis-Raiford, CEO of the Carrie Meek Foundation
10 Ransom Everglades LOG FALL 2026 It was so boring. And I was like, that is so not who Miami is. We’re a place where there’s a sizzle to how we communicate things. We had to have that as part of the campaign,” Beatty said. But Beatty was ahead of the curve in seeing the potential of a new communicative vehicle: social media. This was 2012. Instagram had just come online; if you wanted to schedule a Tweet, you needed a third-party app like HootSuite. Even so, Beatty not only made social media the linchpin of The Miami Foundation’s strategy, but also led training sessions for the nonprofits themselves where he taught them how to leverage the new technology. To this day, leaders in Miami’s nonprofit sector look back on those training sessions as transformational. “He was critical in helping us expand our reach and our audience, reaching new donors across Miami,” said Lindsay Linzer, Chief Impact Officer at The Miami Foundation, who worked with Beatty. “Because he’s an expert storyteller, he was the face of a lot of those training efforts for nonprofits.” The gambit worked. In 2012, Give Miami Day brought in $1.2 million – and Beatty’s team thought “it was all the money in the world.” And then the following years brought in $3.2 million, $5 million, $9 million, $12 million. Propelled by evolving versions of Beatty’s original strategy, Give Miami Day became a juggernaut that has raised over $150 million since its inception, consistently breaking its own record. Many would’ve been satisfied. Beatty wasn’t. In 2020, amid the nationwide racial reckoning that was sparked by the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Beatty realized that he wanted to spend the entirety of his professional energy – not just part of it – serving Black communities in South Florida. “I wanted it to be the central thing that I worked on every single day when I got up: to ensure that Black people were getting the equitable share of resources that they deserved in this country. So I began to look for opportunities in that space,” he said. The Carrie Meek Foundation was the perfect fit. Named after the first African-American to represent Florida in the United States Congress since Reconstruction, the organization is one-of-a-kind in its singular focus on supporting and uplifting Black communities in the state. “He can tell a good story about what might seem to be a dreary set of facts,” said Lucia Davis-Raiford, the foundation’s CEO, who hired Beatty largely on the basis of his skills as a communicator and his ability to put people at ease. “He can turn mediocre messages into positive ones, and he also, I think, is smart about writing in a voice that people can ‘hear.’” After Beatty joined as vice president and chief operating officer, he led initiatives that transformed the foundation’s work. One was the Meek Mobilize Grants Program, which looks for small, ad-hoc programs that are already working to address problems within specific neighborhoods – especially violence – and equips them with the tools, resources, and infrastructure they need to function like sustainable nonprofits. “This community-building work – this stuff is not brain surgery. If you give the resources to individuals who know these communities, who know the solutions, and you support them properly, issues get solved,” Beatty said. Beatty’s next career step extended his personal investment in his home community. This past summer, he stepped into his latest role: Market Director - Miami for the Miami-Dade Innovation Authority. Founded in 2023, the authority aims to help bring innovative solutions to local community challenges by identifying and supporting companies that improve residents’ quality of life. Beatty drives the organization’s on-the-ground strategy through partnerships, fundraising and program development. “He probably doesn’t get the recognition he deserves, and what he’s done in terms of making a difference in the community is significant,” Clark said. “The people who’ve been around him recognize it, but the general community doesn’t. That’s why Ransom Everglades does.” After entering his 40s, Beatty has found himself thinking more about paying it forward. Sharing the gifts – including his RE education – that allowed him to become a catalyst for positive change in the city he knows and loves. “The least I could do is pay it forward, because I could never pay it back. Too much was poured into me. There’s no possible way,” Beatty said. “But I can ensure that those who don’t have access to that opportunity get it. That, I always think, is my purpose.” “If you give the resources to individuals who know these communities, who know the solutions, and you support them properly, issues get solved.” – Matthew Beatty ’01 Matthew Beatty ’01 (far left) and fellow members of the Black Students Association at RE
FALL 2026 Ransom Everglades LOG 11 By Leah Borromeo When she arrived at Ransom Everglades as a sophomore, Arlene Sierra ’87 found her lifelong passion for the arts stirred by the natural wonders populating RE’s bayfront upper school campus. Even as she honed her musical skills with instructors largely off campus, the connection between nature and art that developed at RE would serve as the creative foundation of a career as an internationally acclaimed composer. Yet what actually launched her career was neither her passion for music nor her love of nature. It was the recognition that few women worked in the field of musical composition – which she described as “the rocket science of music.” When she listened to the pieces produced by some of her college classmates at the Oberlin College-Conservatory, she was not impressed. She believed she could excel in the field – and that she must try. “These young composers – who were all guys – had so much attitude and were considered the ultimate cool kids, the ‘rocket scientists of music’ because they could write musical compositions,” she recalled. “I was intimidated when I met them, and then I heard their music, and I thought: I could do better. “Being one of the really very, very few women who were doing it inspired me,” she said. “It made me more determined … You have to learn harmony, counterpoint, all the notation, and you have to learn all the instruments, understand their ranges and how they work, a lot of technical knowledge.” Arlene Sierra ’87 navigates the exciting world of musical composition The Rocket Science of Music “Being one of the really very, very few women who were doing it inspired me. It made me more determined.” – Arlene Sierra ’87
12 Ransom Everglades LOG FALL 2026 The dream led to an incredible workload. “I was prepared for that part of it,” she said. “I already knew what kind of art I liked.” The desire to produce music with the best in the world drove her rise through Oberlin, the Yale School of Music, the University of Michigan (where she earned her doctorate) and studies in Paris and Berlin. She currently works as a composer in London while also serving as Professor of Music Composition at Cardiff University in Wales. Her award-winning composition work has been described as having “its own character, in which historical and contemporary influences are fused into a highly flexible and distinctive style” and “packed with crisp, vivid detail that’s not at all hand-me-down.” She draws from her less-than-casual lifelong fascination with history, game theory, military strategy and, of course, nature. The nature she experienced in Coconut Grove still defines many of her works. A number of her chamber and orchestral works employ birdsong and ideas from the natural world, incorporating real-world sounds and rhythms such as in Nature Symphony (2017), commissioned by the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra and Radio 3. Bird Symphony (2022), for the Utah Symphony, plays with scale and distance using transcriptions and field recordings of birdsong. Today’s music students at Ransom Everglades can choose from a chamber ensemble, a string orchestra, a jazz combo, a panoply of bands from jazz to concert to symphonic. They can study voice, guitar and advanced placement music theory. Not so in Arlene Sierra’s day. “When I was at Ransom Everglades, I knew of only one other serious musician,” she said. “Ransom was well known for academics and sports, but all that was offered for music was a wind ensemble – not an option for the piano student I was in those days.” Despite the lack of advanced music classes, RE offered a vibrant intellectual and music culture. “My musical ability wasn’t lost on my classmates,” she said. “I was asked to play keyboards and sing with a student rock band at a school fair and to accompany a comedy sketch for assembly by playing the Godfather theme on the piano; great fun!” Added Sierra: “Two of my first friends at Ransom Everglades were Mike Malinin ’85, who later became the drummer for the Goo Goo Dolls, and Shawn Miller ’87, who is now a writer, lawyer and a longtime patron of my recording projects.” She also recalls the academic growth she experienced at RE. “I loved history class with Mr. [Geoff] Pietsch, who always spoke to us like adults and had a kind of serene wisdom and humor,” Sierra remembers. “Our teachers were essentially college professors.” Other favorite teachers were Evelyn La Russe, who taught Spanish and Robert (Doc) Crabtree, who taught Anatomy and Physiology. She recalled attending plays at the Coconut Grove Playhouse under former English teacher Blake Leach. “We went to the productions as a class,” Sierra recalled. “It was a wonderful way to learn about writing, staging and dramatic timing, both essential in my work as a classical composer, especially when writing opera.” “These young composers – who were all guys – had so much attitude and were considered the ultimate cool kids, the ‘rocket scientists of music’ because they could write musical compositions.” – Arlene Sierra ’87
FALL 2026 Ransom Everglades LOG 13 The daughter of an artist and a doctor who were classical music lovers, Sierra and her family were “bohemian New Yorkers in a slightly alien landscape. Miami’s pace of life and its priorities were so different from ours,” she recalled with a laugh. She carries herself with the grounding of someone who has lived in international cities made stronger by the kind of knowledge exchange diverse migration brings about. She’s lived, studied and traveled around the world with her work in music including “a Berlin period to finish my doctorate while immersed in that city’s incredible classical music scene.” She was also her own person. “I was often sent to [the dean of students’] office for my liberal interpretation of the school dress code,” she said, laughing. “I’d swap the preppy look for old men’s shirts my mom would use for painting, plus any black accessories to look more ‘alternative.’” They eventually agreed she would tuck in her shirt for 10 minutes during homeroom. Sierra arrived at Ransom Everglades after having studied piano from the age of five. “I grew up with classical music playing at home and in the car,” she said. “I was taken to concerts, galleries and performances. I loved being surrounded by art and artists, where musical and artistic expression were second nature. “My sister Grace (an interior designer) and I grew up in the 1970s and 80s, where we were able to explore our creativity and make our own fun,” she said. “I remember being very curious about the world around me, fascinated by Miami’s cultural mixes and clashes, and the huge contrast with our many trips to New York.” She met some of her best, lifelong friends growing up in Florida. “My best girlfriends at Ransom Everglades were April La Russe ’87 (Dr. La Russe’s daughter) and Aryn Rothfield ’87. We were the ‘three A’s’,” recalled Sierra. “Tragically, we lost Aryn to non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma a few years after graduation. But April happened to settle here in London to begin her career in finance. We remain good friends and still remember dear Aryn and our good times back in Miami.” She also met the late RE college counselor James (Jim) Hatch. “I told him I wanted to go to New York or Boston for college, but Mr. Hatch somehow knew immediately that Oberlin would be the perfect place for me,” she said. “My reply was, ‘Ohio!? Why would I want to live in Ohio?’ He implored me to give it a chance and apply.” Miami and New York City have contrasting natural worlds, but they’re still big coastal cities. Sierra was a big city kid. But through the Oberlin brochure she learned about its well-regarded conservatory of music combined with liberal arts. “It had endless opportunities for an artsy kid like me. I had offers from NYU and Boston College, too, but Oberlin was clearly the right place with music subsumed in every aspect of campus life. I loved the history of the place, that it was the first college to admit women and African-American students, and was a stop on the Underground Railroad. “Initially, I thought I’d be a history major with a minor in piano but I ended up doing a double degree instead – a BA in East Asian Studies and a BMus in Electronic Music. Talk about wanting to make life difficult, it was a bit much when I found myself taking advanced music theory at the same time as second-year Chinese,” Sierra said. “But it was also a chance to start composing using all kinds of technology.” Her first compositions were written for tape, synthesizers and, eventually, the acoustic instruments and ensembles that helped to launch her career. The Midwest isn’t often thought of as a launchpad to the world, but while at Oberlin, she met Michael Daugherty, then the youngest composer teaching there. She asked how she could transfer from electronic music to composition. He told her to attend the Aspen Music Festival as a composer. When she returned with a clutch of new scores, he then encouraged her to apply to Yale. “I was very impressed by her bold musical and intellectual ideas,” Daugherty said. At Yale, she studied under Martin Bresnick and Jacob Druckman (a student of Aaron Copland), cementing her lineage among American contemporary music composers. “The Arlene I taught was animated by a fierce desire to create her own art and her own world of creative achievement,” Bresnick recalled. While at Yale, she obtained a scholarship to the American Conservatory in Fontainebleau, France, where she was taught by Betsy Jolas, a venerable figure in French and American contemporary music. Jolas showed by example that a woman working in the male-dominated field of classical music composition could succeed. Now 100 years old, Jolas says that she evoked her own career “to guide hers through this day and age after judging her interesting music and advising her here and there.” “I was very impressed by her bold musical and intellectual ideas ... That desire to learn and drive I encountered when I met Arlene nearly 40 years ago is still alive and kicking today.” – Michael Daugherty, composer
14 Ransom Everglades LOG FALL 2026 That guidance was mission critical. Sierra’s music is the subject of a series of portrait recordings by Bridge Records. Arlene Sierra, Vol. 1, recorded by the International Contemporary Ensemble, was featured by NPR Classical, which described its “remarkable brilliance of color, rhythmic dexterity and playfulness.” The fourth volume in this series that spans around two decades, Birds and Insects, was released in 2025. Recent performers of her work include the London Sinfonietta, the Boston Symphony, the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, and the Tokyo Philharmonic. In Truel (2002-04), her first piano trio, the listener is taken into a musical battle between three performers who embody roles as tactical opponents or mathematical variables. Her second piano trio, Butterflies Remember A Mountain, was inspired by a study of monarch butterfly migration on which violinist Nicola Benedetti plays. It premiered at the BBC Proms and it is something you should take time out of your day to listen to. Sierra has been commissioned by the New York Philharmonic, was the first woman to win the Takemitsu Prize and received a Charles Ives Fellowship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Her orchestral piece Moler for the Seattle Symphony received a Latin Grammy nomination for Best Contemporary Classical Composition in 2014: an apt honor for a composer born in Miami to a family with New York roots. Since leaving Ransom Everglades, Sierra has built a body of work in which butterflies navigate by mountain memory, Roman siege engineers and Darwinian finches share the same formal logic, and the natural world isn’t a decorative backdrop but a structural part of the message. Gramophone magazine called her music “combative and utterly compelling,” a phrase that captures the dual nature of a composer who has always known what she is fighting for and what she wants the world to hear. “I have been very impressed by the music Arlene has composed and by her many accomplishments,” Michael Daugherty said. “That desire to learn and drive I encountered when I met Arlene nearly 40 years ago is still alive and kicking today.” For the past two decades, Sierra has lived in London with her husband, British composer Kenneth Hesketh, and their son, Elliott, who is also an aspiring musician, She keeps her freelance career separate from her work as a professor at Cardiff University, and has adapted well to a British pace of life – its unpredictable weather and awkward modernity steeped in centuries of history. Our meeting, for example, took place at a 900-year-old church that runs a coffee shop and coworking space when religious services aren’t on. Sierra visited Ransom Everglades last April for the first time in years. She was amazed to see the physical transformation of the upper school campus, and even more excited to learn of its musical evolution. “I’m so happy to see the music provision at Ransom Everglades is infinitely better now,” she said. “Even though I studied piano privately with University of Miami Professor Rosalina Sackstein, there was little to no awareness of living composers, never mind women composers from any era. As soon as I learned this, I wanted to change it.” She’s been changing it in the most powerful way possible – with the creation of must-experience musical works. Women only started playing in professional, mixed-gender symphonies at the start of the 20th century. Addressing this gender imbalance has been a motivation throughout Sierra’s life – and it continues even today. “For years, I was in spaces where I was one of very few, and sometimes the only woman composer,” Sierra said. “I’d go to performances and festivals and realize mine was often the only woman’s voice to be heard. Things have improved in more recent years but there is still much work to be done.” “The Arlene I taught was animated by a fierce desire to create her own art and her own world of creative achievement.” – Martin Bresnick, composer
FALL 2026 Ransom Everglades LOG 15 THE FUND FOR RANSOM EVERGLADES: OUR MOST IMPORTANT FUNDRAISING PRIORITY Your support reinforces our school’s commitment to excellence in education, nurturing the next generation of leaders in a joyful learning environment. THE FUND FOR RANSOM EVERGLADES SUPPORTS: ARTS ATHLETICS DIVERSITY EQUITY & INCLUSION FACULTY DEVELOPMENT FINANCIAL AID SUSTAINABILITY TECHNOLOGY Every gift – no matter the size – strengthens our mission and meaningfully impacts our students’ experience. When our whole community participates, we inspire others to give. Join us in shaping the future of Ransom Everglades. To make a gift, visit www.ransomeverglades.org/make-a-gift
16 Ransom Everglades LOG FALL 2026 What does it mean to leave this place ready–not just for college, but for a life of meaning? We asked alumni to tell us. Critical Curious Dedicated Deliberate Driven Educated Empathe Accomplished Altruistic Ambitious Aspiring Aware Balanced Capab Portrait of a Ransom Everglades Graduate
FALL 2026 Ransom Everglades LOG 17 etic Empowered Engaged Ethical Generous Grounded Humanist ble Compassionate Competitive Confident Conscientious Connected What endures after the diplomas are conferred and the campus falls quiet? What qualities – earned, practiced, refined – travel with a Ransom Everglades graduate into the world? These are not merely rhetorical questions. Ransom Everglades academic leaders conferred with alumni, students and faculty to articulate a comprehensive portrait of a Ransom Everglades graduate. The result of our analysis stands as both a commitment and a mirror. A Ransom Everglades graduate is prepared for college and a life of meaning and purpose. Centered in honor, service, humility and curiosity, Ransom Everglades graduates are learners, leaders and contributors who understand that their education is not about what they can get, but what they can give. The words bordering this magazine spread were proposed by alumni to answer the question: How do you describe a Ransom Everglades graduate? Enjoy the portrait captured on the pages ahead, and in a special video that can be accessed using the QR code below. Watch our Portrait of a Ransom Everglades Graduate video
18 Ransom Everglades LOG FALL 2026 “We understand that growth comes not from being certain of what we know, but rather, by being curious of the things we do not.” – Barbara Hyland ’23 “A combination of confidence and humility: a willingness to take chances while being honest when one can improve or course-correct. A sense of obligation to deliver on the promise that privilege has afforded us.” – Seth Cassel ’98 Purposeful Resilient Resourceful Responsible Selfless Social Succe •Poses insightful questions in order to pursue meaningful inquiry •Examines issues from multiple perspectives, connecting ideas across contexts •Engages new perspectives with imagination, creating their own path Curious and reflective, an RE graduate asks good questions, challenges assumptions and engages in complex problem-solving with imagination and rigor. An RE graduate adapts to uncertainty, thinks critically and acts responsibly to shape a better future. Thinks deeply and creatively, and embraces change with confidence. •Works independently and creatively so that collaboration leads to stronger solutions •Meets challenges with discipline and resilience Portrait of a Ransom Everglades Graduate Independent Informed Inquisitive Interested Knowledgeable Meti
FALL 2026 Ransom Everglades LOG 19 19 Ransom Everglades LOG FALL 2026 •Acts with honesty and fairness in order to uphold trust •Accepts accountability and learns from mistakes •Advocates for justice with integrity and moral courage Guided by RE’s Honor Code, an RE graduate acts with honesty, responsibility and moral conviction. An RE graduate writes, speaks and listens with clarity and empathy, using an authentic voice to connect, advocate and build understanding across differences. Leads with integrity, courage and purpose. •Practices ethical technology use and digital citizenship •Communicates with clarity and empathy while listening respectfully across differences Portrait of a Ransom Everglades Graduate “The most innovative, high-achieving, well-rounded and passionate people I have ever had the pleasure of knowing.” – Mindy Sue Elser ’82 essful Talented Thoughtful Upstanding Virtuous Well-rounded Wor iculous Networked Persistent Philanthropic Poised Prepared Profes “Committed to learning, creative, community-oriented.” – Sander Jõeveer ’24
20 Ransom Everglades LOG FALL 2026 “Do-ers, not observers … not afraid to roll up their sleeves and get into the thick of things.” – Cornelia Taudt-Ehrling ’88 “Ransom Everglades alumni are humble critical thinkers, compassionate problem solvers, and always striving to leave the world in a better place today than it was yesterday.” – John Maxsween ’05 Critical Curious Dedicated Deliberate Driven Educated Empathe • Honors traditions of service and community engagement •Takes initiative to address community needs with humility and empathy •Contributes time and talents to improve the lives of others at school and beyond Service is a habit of the heart and mind. An RE graduate gives time and talents to improve the lives of others, both locally and globally. An RE graduate seeks out diverse perspectives, fosters belonging, and sees themselves as part of something greater. Serves others with compassion and builds inclusive communities. • Welcomes and celebrates diverse perspectives in order to foster belonging • Carries the school’s mission into the wider world as part of something greater Portrait of a Ransom Everglades Graduate Accomplished Altruistic Ambitious Aspiring Aware Balanced Capab
FALL 2026 Ransom Everglades LOG 21 etic Empowered Engaged Ethical Generous Grounded Humanist ble Compassionate Competitive Confident Conscientious Connected •Sets high standards and perseveres through challenges •Seeks feedback in order to grow with humility •Recognizes and uplifts the contributions of others An RE graduate strives for growth, values feedback and celebrates others’ successes. Ambitious but grounded, an RE graduate leads with both confidence and kindness while maintaining a sense of joy and wellbeing. Pursues excellence with humility and balance. •Maintains healthy habits and self-awareness to sustain balance •Follows their own path with joy, creativity and authentic interests Portrait of a Ransom Everglades Graduate “Have a strong sense of responsibility and lead thoughtfully to make a difference in the world.” – Katherine Muraro Pedroso ’00 “A person who is intentionally equipped – through skills, habits and mindset – to make sustained, positive contributions to the wellbeing of their community and society.” – Michael S. Stresau ’70
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FALL 2026 Ransom Everglades LOG 23 Construction is underway on the Sundheim Humanities Center, a transformative facility scheduled for completion in fall 2027. Situated between the Lampen Family Wellness Center and the La Brisa house on the upper school campus, this 30,000-square-foot, glass-walled building will dramatically expand the academic heart of Ransom Everglades. The new center will mark the next major milestone in the school’s continuing campus evolution, following the unveiling of the Fernandez STEM Center in 2020 and the restoration of La Brisa in 2022. Designed as an academic complement to the STEM facility, the center will house 19 flexible classrooms, collaborative workspaces, gathering halls, a vibrant student commons and modern faculty offices. Providing a campus home for the study of history, literature, languages, philosophy and ethics, the Sundheim Humanities Center will help ensure that every student at Ransom Everglades develops the communications, writing and critical thinking skills necessary to thrive in today’s complex world. It will serve as a hub for civil discourse and collaborative work while also providing a quiet retreat for creative thinking. This vision sprang to life in June 2022 with a record capital gift from Brett and Daniel Sundheim P’26 ’28, which was designed to extend RE’s century-long commitment to excellence in the humanities. Thanks to the Sundheim’s leadership, along with support from former board chair Miguel Dueñas ’95, newly installed chair Ricky Stokes ’94, former chair Jonathan Fitzpatrick and a dedicated community of trustees and donors, the project is becoming a reality. Please know your support is still needed. To learn more about available naming opportunities and how to support this special project, contact Director of Advancement Vicki Carbonell Williamson ’88 at 305 460 8826 or vwilliamson@ransomeverglades.org. As you turn the page, explore the early architectural renderings of this landmark facility and read reflections from the donors helping shape the future of Ransom Everglades. The Future in Focus An exciting vision for the Sundheim Humanities Center comes to life
24 Ransom Everglades LOG FALL 2026 Debi Braman Wechsler ’78, P’04 ’06 ’09 ’15 “As an alumna, former board member, proud parent of four RE graduates and community supporter: my family is so proud to be able to contribute to this fantastic building on the RE upper campus. The Sundheim Humanities Center will be so important to students’ curriculum.”
FALL 2026 Ransom Everglades LOG 25 Jaime Orozco & Carolina Argiz Orozco P’32 “Growing up in Miami, we’ve seen firsthand the lasting impact a strong school community can have on a child’s life. We’re deeply grateful for the opportunity to support the Sundheim Humanities Center, and we hope it inspires meaningful experiences and friendships that stay with Ransom Everglades students for a lifetime.”
26 Ransom Everglades LOG FALL 2026 Sam and Sanjay Mavinkurve P’28 ’30 ’32 “Our children found their love of the humanities at Ransom Everglades, so we’re thrilled to help bring the Sundheim Humanities Center to life.” Akin Family P’27 and the Leomi Foundation “Education has always been a pillar of our family foundation, and we feel a deep commitment to the institutions our children attend. Though we’re a relatively new family to Ransom Everglades, having arrived just last year, we’ve been consistently impressed by the dedication of the faculty, the thoughtfulness of the admissions process, and the philosophy that shapes this special community.”
FALL 2026 Ransom Everglades LOG 27 Brett and Daniel Sundheim P’26 ’28 “It’s exciting to support the next generation as they explore their interests, discover their strengths and use those strengths to do something meaningful. Ransom Everglades has always been an amazing school; this offers a chance to take it to the next level.” To learn more about available naming opportunities and how to support this special project, contact Director of Advancement Vicki Carbonell Williamson ’88 at 305 460 8826 or vwilliamson@ransomeverglades.org. Daniel and Brett Sundheim P’26 ‘28 at the groundbreaking for the Sundheim Humanities Center RE Humanities Department faculty members Jenny Carson ’03, Matt Margini, Jen Nero, James Monk and John A. King Jr. at the groundbreaking for the Sundheim Humanities Center
In the fall of 2024, Ransom Everglades announced its commitment to provide a yearly stipend to full-time faculty in response to the rising cost of living in Miami. In the two years since, the need to both attract and retain top talent inspired many members of the RE community to support the Patrick and Kristen McMahon Faculty Endowment Fund. This cause resonated deeply with Alex Kleyner and Diana Ulis P’31 ’32, who contributed to the endowment in honor of their mothers – both of whom are teachers. “Teaching runs deep in both of our families,” Kleyner explained. “My mother spent her career teaching mathematics, and Diana’s mother was a music teacher. We grew up seeing firsthand the dedication, patience and countless hours great educators invest in their students, often without recognition. Supporting the faculty is our way of honoring that legacy while investing in the people who are helping shape our children’s future.” As new parents, Kleyner and Ulis were struck by Ransom Everglades’ culture of excellence balanced with genuine care. Teachers recognize their children as individuals, building their confidence and fostering character. They also value how the school balances core principles with with Alex Kleyner and Diana Ulis P’31 ’32 forward-thinking programs, particularly its thoughtful approach to emerging technologies, like artificial intelligence. “The goal shouldn’t be to avoid it, but to understand how to use it responsibly and effectively,” Kleyner shared. “Seeing the school thoughtfully evaluate, monitor and integrate these emerging technologies while maintaining academic integrity prepares students for the future rather than shielding them from it.” The couple understands the importance of faculty who encourage students to explore their passions and spark a genuine curiosity to learn. Their decision to step forward addresses a critical reality: attracting and retaining world-class talent requires meaningful support. “Outstanding teachers have opportunities almost anywhere,” Kleyner noted. “If this endowment helps relieve some of the financial pressures teachers face, they can focus on what they do best: inspiring, mentoring and challenging students.” Ultimately, the Kleyner-Ulis family views their gift as a sustainable investment for the future of Ransom Everglades. “An endowment is different because it creates a lasting impact. Rather than solving a short-term need, it provides ongoing support that strengthens the school year after year,” Kleyner said. “We believe our role as parents is to support the educators who invest so much of themselves in our children. When teachers feel valued and supported, students benefit every single day. “We’d encourage other parents to think about the people who have made a difference in their children’s lives. If a teacher has inspired your child, helped them through a challenge, or sparked a lifelong interest, supporting the faculty is one of the most meaningful ways to say thank you.” “If a teacher has inspired your child, helped them through a challenge, or sparked a lifelong interest, supporting the faculty is one of the most meaningful ways to say thank you.” Anna Ulis Anna Kleyner 28 Ransom Everglades LOG FALL 2026
FALL 2026 Ransom Everglades LOG 29 The Ransom Everglades professional community celebrated the careers of four highly respected retiring faculty members during an emotion-filled end-of-year professional community event on June 4. With tributes, tears and standing ovations, Ransom Everglades said goodbye to retiring faculty Cathi Leibinger – RE’s newest faculty emeritus after 26 years at RE – Heidi Steen (20 years), Kathryn Bufkin (18 years) and Jody Salzinger (17 years), who ended their teaching tenures at RE with a combined 81 years of service. For a quarter of a century, Leibinger – RE’s middle school band director – turned student “potential into pride,” noted Performing Arts Department Chair Cecilia Gonzalez. She quoted colleagues who described Leibinger as “passionate, resilient, spunky, organized, sassy, talented and spirited.” One faculty member summed up her gift of transforming neophytes into accomplished musicians using just one word: “magician.” Bufkin, who joined the RE college counseling team this fall as a part-time Raiders for Life RE recognizes long-serving, retiring faculty essay-writing specialist, received several tributes, including an impromptu one from Co-Executive Director of College Counseling Jason Locke. Locke shared snippets from Bufkin’s legendary letters of recommendation, which were laced with both humorous analysis and exquisite writing. English teacher Matt Margini described knowing his former office mate as “one of the greatest privileges of my time at RE,” adding that, “she inspired me. I cherish the time I got to work with her and learn from her.” Faculty member Adrienne Fama lauded Steen for holding her world languages students to an extremely high standard and maintaining a structured classroom environment that kept even rambunctious sixth graders on course. “Heidi created routines and systems that served her and her students well,” Fama said. “She was calm, consistent and supportive.” Salzinger is “kind, curious, thoughtful, dedicated and compassionate” faculty member Ali Fisher said about her colleague, and Humanities Department Chair Jen Nero described her as “a master of her craft.” Added Nero: “she is exceeding kind, welcoming and humble ... [and] represents the best in RE humanities and in RE in general.” Nero concluded her tribute to Salzinger with gratitude: “Thank you for reminding all of us what makes this place special, and for being a colleague we all aspire to be.” The event also recognized current professional community members who reached milestone anniversaries. The longest-serving: science teacher Don Kappelman, who achieved an extraordinary 40 years of dedicated service at Ransom Everglades. Three employees received honors from their colleagues: Monique Regis earned the Arthur Moses Award for staff, and James Monk (upper school) and Vanessa Lopez (middle school) each earned the honor for faculty. All were lauded for their exceptional work as individuals and contributors to the larger RE community. Jody Salzinger, Kathryn Bufkin, Heidi Steen, Cathi Leibinger
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