Theme: Dream

What's your dream? Where do dreams come from. Here are some Dreams Worth Sharing.

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

Combat Hippies

Performers

Led by world-renowned theater director Teo Castellanos with accompaniment by DJ Brimstone127, Anthony “I.E.D.” Torres, Andrew “Dru Phoenix” Cuthbert, Hipolito “BeardMan” Arriaga and Allen “Tatsel” Minor form the Combat Hippies, a collective of military veteran performing artists who promote Post-Traumatic Growth through theatrical performances and community engagement events. The Combat Hippies formed during a MDC Live Arts creative writing workshop in which they shared their experiences in an original spoken word piece as part of the O, Miami Poetry Festival. The Combat Hippies strive to educate, inspire, and entertain both veterans and the general public in order to bridge the gap of understanding, reduce the suicide rate among veterans and bring about positive societal change.

Tiempo Libre

Performers

Three-time Grammy-nominated Afro-Caribbean music group Tiempo Libre is one of the hottest Latin bands today. Equally at home in concert halls, jazz clubs, festival stages and dance venues, Tiempo Libre is celebrated for its sophisticated tropical music featuring an irresistible, exhilarating mix of jazz harmonies, contemporary sonorities and seductive Latin rhythms.

Batia Cohen

Art Historian, Designer

Batia Cohen embraced her first career as a graphic designer and developed a passion for Art History. She specialized in Mesoamerican Art earning her PhD from the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. Batia teaches in several continuing education programs including Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at the University of Miami, Florida International University and Nova Southeastern University. She writes for LetraUrbana.com, a specialized cultural magazine. Her first historical novel Una Amapola entre Cactus was published in 2012.

Corey Bergman

President, Ukelele Kids Club

Corey received his first guitar at the age of ten, just as the Beatles invaded the United States. He formed his first working band at the age of fifteen and later worked in the music industry as a concert coordinator for Hofstra Concerts. In 2010, after experiencing a personal family tragedy, Corey initiated and established a memorial fund in conjunction with the Make A Wish foundation in honor of his son Jared. In 2012, Corey and his wife Edda relocated to Miami, FL, where he began volunteer service. At Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital, he was given the extraordinary opportunity to use his musicianship to aid in the palliative care and treatment of the children and their families. In 2013, Corey received the “President’s Volunteer Service Award”. In January 2014, Corey and his wife Edda founded the Ukulele Kids Club Inc.

Derek Deville

VP of Engineering, Syntheon llc

Miami native Derek Deville received his Bachelor’s in Mechanical Engineering from Purdue University. Currently developing medical devices with Syntheon, Derek previously worked with Environmental Aeroscience Corporation in hybrid rocket propulsion research. As a highly accomplished hobby rocketeer, he has designed and built many of the largest successful amateur rockets. Having served on the Board of the Tripoli Rocketry Association and the NFPA Pyrotechnics Committee, Derek has been pursuing his love of amateur rocketry for 20 years.

Dre Baldwin

Writer, Speaker, Basketball Coach

Dre Baldwin brought basketball training to the Internet, leveraging that foresight into brand names and a growing business empire. During his 9 years as a professional basketball player, Dre began publishing workout and motivational messages to YouTube in 2006. Dre now has over 4,000 videos online, and has been viewed over 30,000,000 times by his 100,000+ subscribers. Dre, or “Dre All Day” as his fans know him, brings his “Work on Your Game” brand and philosophy to his marketing, branding and professional speaking businesses. Dre has authored five books, including “The Mirror of Motivation”.

Eduardo Balarezo

Change Agent

Eduardo was inspired by Galapagos Islands' conservation-icon Lonesome George to found a global social enterprise combining apparel and education to empower students to become Agents of Change. Eduardo uses his passion for business, experiential learning and social entrepreneurship to teach youth about courage and compassion through his Academy of Agents of Change, which is now offered to high school students in South Florida. A leader in the social enterprise movement, Eduardo was nominated a "Remarkable Leader" in 2014 and is acclaimed as one of "100 Visionary Leaders" in 2015 by Real Leaders publication. Eduardo holds a BA from Brown; MS from UHCL and Global MBA Programme from IESE-Wharton-CIEBS.

Eric Lewis

Piano Iconoclast

A modern day pop artist and musical revolutionary, piano iconoclast ELEW is making a substantial impression on the music world with a thunderous new style of playing: an inspired melding of ragtime, rock and pop that he calls Rockjazz. ELEW has toured the world, recorded, and performed continuously with Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, Elvin Jones, Roy Hargrove, and Cassandra Wilson, among others. He won the 1999 Thelonious Monk International Piano Competition, his mesmerizing piano theatrics even then hinting at the new musical paradigm he would one day create. Now, in the jazz tradition of interpreting popular tunes of the day, much like Art Tatum and John Coltrane, ELEW has turned to rock, combining a guitarist's approach to the piano with an explosively physical style of playing that would be at home in any arena. Filmaker Bobby Kennedy III just finished filming a documentary feature about the pianist. Performed at TED2009.

John Mistele

Maia Mora

Maia Mora is a freshman at Ransom Everglades. She was inducted into the National Junior Honor Society in the 7th grade, and received the School Service Award for co-founding the Techo Club. Techo raises money to build houses for the underprivileged in Latin America in support of the "Un Techo Para Mi Pais" organization. She was first exposed to Techo in 6th grade on a building trip to Cartagena and shortly thereafter co-founded the club. This year they raised enough money to go to the Dominican Republic and with the help of 30 classmates and parents, they built two homes. Maia is an avid singer and piano player, and is currently learning to play the guitar. She loves to travel and is an explorer and entrepreneur at heart.

Maia Mora

Student

Matt Wilson

Professor of Neuroscience, MIT

With a background in Electrical Engineering, Matt pioneered the application of large-scale multiple electrode microarray implants for monitoring ensemble activity in the freely behaving rodent during awake and sleep states. Using these approaches he was the first to demonstrate the coordinated reactivation of memory patterns during sleep in the hippocampus and has continued to pursue the role of sleep in memory processing, and the study of sleep-regulation of brain systems. Matt is the Sherman Fairchild Professor in Neuroscience at the Picower Institute for Learning and Memory in the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, and Biology at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Nikki Jagid

Student, Dreamer

Nikki Jagid is a ninth grade student attending Ransom Everglades School. Nikki was honored with the “Outstanding Student Award” in seventh grade. In eighth grade, she received the “Service Award,” for co-chairing Techo Service Club. Techo is a youth based non-profit organization that seeks to overturn poverty in Latin America by constructing transitional housing and implementing social inclusion programs. Nikki’s best experience to date was traveling to the Dominican Republic to build two homes with the money the club raised. Nikki enjoys playing piano, guitar, tennis, and taking part in drama productions at Ransom Everglades. Nikki plans to continue to dedicate her free time to helping people in need, and dreams to see a poverty free world someday.

Romero Britto

Artist

Internationally renowned pop artist Romero Britto uses vibrant colors and bold patterns as a visual language of hope and happiness, reflecting his optimistic faith in the world around him. Born in Recife, Brazil in 1963, Britto lived an extremely modest lifestyle while growing up amongst eight brothers and sisters. In 1983, he moved to Miami to join the flourishing Pop Art community. In 1988, he was selected alongside Andy Warhol and Keith Haring for Absolut Vodka's "Absolut Art" campaign. He combined influences from cubism with pop to create an iconic style that The New York Times described "exudes warmth, optimism and love." His work has been exhibited in galleries and museums in over 100 countries, including the Salon de la Societe Nationale des Beaux Arts exhibition at the Carrousel du Louvre in 2008 and 2010. As well, in December 2013, Maria Elena and Carlos Slim Domit invited Britto to be the first living artist to exhibit at Museo Soumaya. He has created public art installations

Stephanie Ansin

Founder & Artistic Director, Miami Theater Center

A native of Miami, and graduate of Ransom Everglades, Stephanie Ansin spent 14 years studying, acting, and directing in New England and New York before becoming a mom and moving back to South Florida so her family could participate in raising the first member of their next generation. Upon her return in 2004, she co-founded The PlayGround Theatre and focused on creating shows for young audiences. In 2011 the company was rebranded Miami Theater Center to reflect its inclusion of adult programming. Ansin holds a BA in Theatre Arts from Brown University and an MFA in Theatre Directing from Columbia University.

Tanya Villanueva Tepper

Speaker, Writer, Resilience Queen

Tanya is a 9/11 widow living happily “even” after who is featured in the Peabody award-winning documentary, Rebirth, which has a permanent home at the National September 11th Museum. Tanya is a senior advisor and speaker for the nonprofit organization Project Rebirth, and uses the film to give audiences a personal connection to September 11th while inspiring hope and encouraging resilience to those who are coping with grief and trauma. Tanya has written for the Huffington Post and loves her life in Miami with her husband Ray, two young daughters, and their baby bearded dragon.