Theme: Boundaries

This year's event is a look at boundaries, some to be discovered, some to be overcome, some to be dealt with.

Ransom Everglades School
3575 Main Highway
Miami, Florida, 33133
United States

University of Miami's Kappa Alpha Psi

Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. is a fraternity of the National Pan-Hellenic Council founded on the campus of Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana on January 5, 1911. Their official colors are Crimson and Cream and their motto is “Achievement in Every Field of Human Endeavor.” A major objective of the organization is to inspire service in the public’s interest. The Iota Chi Chapter was chartered on the campus of the University of Miami on December 1st, 1979. Since then, they have been assisting the aims and purposes of the university as a group of motivated young men.

Ahan Malhotra

Ahan Malhotra is a student at Ransom Everglades School where he serves as the President of the TEDx Club. Ahan enjoys developing apps, astronomy, and photography in his spare time and is founder and CEO of Random Widgets.

April Thompson

April Yvette Thompson is a Tony-winning producer, writer & actor working across media. April just wrapped filming of the new 20th Century Fox pilot Babylon Fields, and has also starred in many Broadway productions including Clybourne Park, and Vassar Voices. Her off-broadway credits include The Exonerated, Medea, King Lear, and Macbeth. April’s Film/TV credits include The Exonerated, Accidental Husband, Blue Caprice, Backwards, Blue Bloods, Law & Order, Third Watch et al. As SimonSays Entertainment Director of Development, April produced the award-winning Sundance features: Blue Caprice, Mother of George, Night Catches Us & Gun Hill Road. April was on the Tony-winning producing team of the longest-running Broadway production of Porgy & Bess. April is developing her second play in The Miami Trilogy, Good Bread Alley, with support from NYSF, NYTW, Arsht. Her first play, Liberty City was an Off Broadway hit nominated for Drama Desk, Outer Critics, Lortel & AUDELCO awards.

Che Scott

Ché Scott was born in a small town in Jamaica. Without any football background, Ché walked onto the University of Miami football team in the midst of their latest dominance of college football. That segment of the team’s history produced more NFL players than any other team in the history of college football. Ché has kept close relationships with many of his former teammates and knows a face on almost every team in the league. After graduating college with a Bachelors of Arts in Sociology and minor in Economics, Ché worked as a licensed General Contractor in South Florida, and helped in the building of projects such as the United Way Center for Excellence. Ché a jack of all trades...is a licensed minister, a life coach, and a chaplain for the Miami Heat and Miami Hurricanes. He believes in challenging others to find a higher level of thinking. Ché recently published his first book I Like Girls: Honor The New Guy Code.

Eric Lang

Critical decisions are part of life for Eric Lang. He is a founding Paramedic/ Firefighter for The Village of Key Biscayne and is passionate about strategic thinking. After completing his MBA at the University of Miami he integrated the connections between emergency decisions that are made in business and daily life. Presently, he is the Key Biscayne Fire Chief, where he applies “Critical and Strategic Thinking” on a daily basis. It could be an emergency response or more traditional organizational decisions that need to be made and executed. The challenge of managing budgets, union contracts, crisis communications, and leading people requires a plan of action that is efficient and effective. Eric has combined his skills and knowledge to teach these strategic thinking concepts to create the right plan for any circumstance, business, or goal.

Francisco Civantos

Frank Civantos

Frank Civantos, MD is a board certified ear, nose and throat specialist. He co-directs the division of head and neck surgery. His practice includes surgery of benign and malignant tumors of the parathyroids, thyroid, parotid, and neck, as well as cancers of the upper aerodigestive tract, including the sinuses, skull base, nasopharynx, oropharynx, hypopharynx, larynx, and oral cavity. In addition, he treats advanced skin malignancies and has a research interest in Sentinel Lymph Node Biopsy, and minimally invasive endoscopic surgery. He also maintains a practice in the surgical treatment of Zenker’s Diverticulum.

Jess Nolan

Jess Nolan, a New Jersey native, has always found a home in soulful music. Since she began writing and performing as a pre-teen, she has been influenced by strong female songwriters like Joni Mitchell and Carole King and emulated expressive performers like Alicia Keys and Kimbra. Jess is currently enrolled in her final year at the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami as part of the Bruce Hornsby Creative American Music Program. She competed in the past four Songwriter’s Showcases as part of Festival Miami and won this past year earning her a slot opening for Jorma Kaukonen, founding member of Jefferson Airplane. Her debut EP will be released this coming spring with the help of Brooklyn-based production duo, Noise Club.

Killian Smith

Killian Smith is an eighth grade student at Ransom Everglades. He enjoys science, the history of invention, drama, and poetry. He likes a good debate on the subjects of spirituality and the origins of morality, as long as there is a sense of humor attached to it. In his spare time, he scuba dives, makes medieval weaponry, and plays Minecraft. Killian was the winner of the 7th grade poetry recitation contest at Ransom Everglades, reciting Tim Minchin's "Storm."

Leonard Pitts

In a career spanning more than 35 years, Leonard Pitts, Jr. has been a columnist, a college professor, a radio producer and a lecturer. But if you ask him to define himself, he will invariably choose one word. He is a writer, period, author of one of the most popular newspaper columns in the country and of a series of critically-acclaimed books, including his latest, a novel called Freeman. And his lifelong devotion to the art and craft of words has yielded stellar results, chief among them the 2004 Pulitzer Prize for commentary.

Marc Buoniconti

A 1985 spinal cord injury left Marc Buoniconti unable to move a muscle below his neck. Yet, each day he moves people; moves them to understand the tragedy of paralyzing SCI -- and to join him in finding its cure. Marc serves as President for both, The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis and The Buoniconti Fund to Cure Paralysis, The Miami Project’s fundraising arm. With an Honorary Doctor of Public Service from The Citadel, the Military College of South Carolina and a Bachelor’s of Science in Psychology from the University of Miami, Marc works tirelessly to overcome paralysis.

Marian Dolan

Marian Dolan is a musician. When asked what she plays, she smiles and answers: people. She’s a choral conductor, so her ‘instrument’ is literally a very human one. Together, a chorus and director are artistic storytellers, singing stories-in-song, whether from the 9th or the 21st centuries, whether from Estonia or Korea or South Africa, whether embodied in stories of courage from 9-11 or in stories of transformation from gender violence survivors. Breaking boundaries to sing stories means being a bridge-builder of connection and community. Founding Artistic Director of The Choir Project (Naples, FL) and former university professor, Marian has conducted or given workshops in Estonia, Finland, Germany, the Philippines, South Africa, Canada, Argentina and Sweden. She holds graduate degrees from Yale School of Music, where she received the first doctorate in choral conducting granted to a woman.

Mike Becker

Robert Duval

Born in Haiti, Boby, as he is affectionately known, has devoted a major part of his life to the promotion of organized soccer and sports in his country. Boby played three Varsity sports at Nichols College in Massachusetts - soccer, basketball and baseball. In 1973 he became the National Inter-Collegiate soccer champion in Canada where he played for Loyola University based in Montreal. He became the National Champion of basketball in tournaments organized by the Haitian National Federation. Bobby’s very first summer camp for youth in Port-au- Prince was organized in 1981. In 1984, he became the President of Violette Athletic Club, and led them to the title of CONCACAF Champions League, only the second club to have made that achievement in Haiti’s soccer history. Bobby in 1995 officially created L’Athletique d’Haiti - a Soccer and Sport Academy for boys and girls ages 7 to 20. In 2007, Bobby was named a CNN Hero for his work with Haitian Youth.

Sara Seagar

Professor Sara Seager is a planetary scientist and astrophysicist. She has been a pioneer in the vast and unknown world of exoplanets, planets that orbit stars other than the sun. Her ground-breaking research ranges from the detection of exoplanet atmospheres to innovative theories about life on other worlds to development of novel space mission concepts. Now, dubbed an “astronomical Indiana Jones”, she is on a quest after the field’s holy grail, the discovery of a true Earth twin. Dr. Seager earned her PhD from Harvard University and is now the Class of 1941 Professor of Planetary Science and Professor of Physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Professor Seager is a 2013 MacArthur Fellow and was named in Time Magazine’s 25 Most Influential in Space in 2012.

Susan Amat