Academics
Holzman Center of Applied Ethics
An Ethical Foundation
The Holzman Center of Applied Ethics, launched in December 2021, is a resource designed to empower students to engage in ethical decision-making and to act with honor, excellence and integrity at RE and beyond.
Under the direction of founding director John A. King, Jr., the Associate Head of School, the center contributes to the academic curriculum and advisory program while also offering a variety of programming to ensure that Ransom Everglades students enter the world understanding the importance of ethical behavior in all endeavors, and the consequences to individuals and societies when integrity and honor are sacrificed. The many opportunities for students through the center include an annual speakers' series, roundtable discussions, elective courses in applied ethics, travel and research opportunities with our partner Students Shoulder-to-Shoulder.
In the tradition of school founders Paul C. Ransom and Marie and Edward Swenson, the center reflects the belief that ethics and morality must be taught and reinforced so that principled decision-making becomes a way of life. The idea and seed funding for the center, which occupies the historic Ransom Cottage on the upper school campus, came from Steve Holzman P’21, a former Parent Chair for The Fund for RE, and attorney John O’Sullivan P’14 ’21 offered additional support.
Under the direction of founding director John A. King, Jr., the Associate Head of School, the center contributes to the academic curriculum and advisory program while also offering a variety of programming to ensure that Ransom Everglades students enter the world understanding the importance of ethical behavior in all endeavors, and the consequences to individuals and societies when integrity and honor are sacrificed. The many opportunities for students through the center include an annual speakers' series, roundtable discussions, elective courses in applied ethics, travel and research opportunities with our partner Students Shoulder-to-Shoulder.
Steve Holzman P’21, founder of the Holzman Center of Applied Ethics
“I don’t think there is any question that corner cutting and cheating have increased across the spectrum. I do think we can do something about it in a positive way. This is a great pathway for Ransom Everglades. The practice of ethics must become a way of life.”
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Former compliance officer talks ethics with upper school students
Core values taught in high school can influence ethical behavior down the line, according to the latest speaker in RE’s Holzman Center of Applied Ethics Speaker Series. Josephine Linden, the former chief compliance officer at Goldman Sachs who is now chair of the board of Lands’ End, told upper school students on Feb. 6 that what she learned during her school days at the Kambala school for girls in New South Wales, Australia, guides her even now.Read More -
'A Day of Ethics' at Ransom Everglades
A Day of Ethics at Ransom Everglades began with an Ethics Gallery Walk during the mid-day break and continued after lunch with the third installment of the Holzman Center of Applied Ethics Speaker Series for 2023-24, featuring entrepreneurs and Cuban immigrants Miguel Fernandez and Armando Codina. The back-to-back ethics events on Dec. 12 lived up to the founding vision for the school's Holzman center, which was created in 2021 to be a resource designed to empower students to engage in ethical decision-making and to act with honor, excellence and integrity.Read More -
Holzman speaker Lapointe urges students to 'do the right thing'
The U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida Markenzy Lapointe described the ethical decisions he faced during his growing-up years after arriving to Miami from Haiti as a teenager who spoke no English. He loved the hard-working families in his new hometown, and admired the grit of his single mother, who raised five children despite never making more than $16,000 per year. But the challenges were significant.Read More -
Judge Ruiz '98 talks ethics with upper schoolers
Federal judge Rudy Ruiz ’98 returned to his high school alma mater to address judicial and legal ethics as the opening speaker in the 2023-24 Holzman Center of Applied Ethics Speaker Series at the Lewis Family Auditorium on Oct. 19. Ruiz, in his fifth year as a United States District Judge for the Southern District of Florida, discussed a range of legal topics, emphasizing to students that despite the current political climate, the virtues of respect, humility, and civility remain integral for society and institutions to flourish.Read More -
Ethics roundtable series debuts at RE upper school
Ransom Everglades students and faculty gathered for a lunchtime roundtable on Oct. 13 with Dr. Kenneth M. Zide, a cardiac electrophysiologist, for the first in a series of medical ethics discussions in 2023-24. The roundtable, moderated by Associate Head of School John A. King Jr., provided a platform for thoughtful analyses of several issues at the intersection of medicine, healthcare and profit. Zide and the students reviewed case studies involving Theranos, Turing and Johnson & Johnson.Read More -
Student leaders discuss academic integrity
Ransom Everglades student leaders addressed their peers on the issues of academic integrity and ethical decision-making during an upper school assembly on Sept. 19 at the Lewis Family Auditorium. Members of the RE Honor and Disciplinary Committee and Holzman Center of Applied Ethics Advisory Council explained the school's Honor Code and recent changes to the Student Handbook, advising their fellow students to know the rules and lean on peers, faculty members and advisors when they need help making sound ethical decisions.Read More -
Rudy Ruiz '98 to open Holzman Center of Applied Ethics Speaker Series
Ransom Everglades announced that federal judge Rudy Ruiz ’98 will kick off the 2023-24 Holzman Center of Applied Ethics Speakers Series by addressing upper school students during assembly on Oct. 19. Ruiz was confirmed as United States District Judge for the Southern District of Florida in 2019 after serving as a judge in the Eleventh Judicial Circuit of Florida and starting his career in the Miami-Dade County Attorney’s Office.Read More -
Gymnastics coach at RE: 'Success is what lasts beyond the win'
Legendary UCLA gymnastics coach Valorie Kondos Field encouraged RE upper school students. She challenged them, questioned them, called on them, listened to them. And, clearly, she inspired them; after her motivational address during assembly on March 30, she received a rousing standing ovation. A featured speaker in the Holzman Center of Applied Ethics Speaker Series, Kondos Field also met over lunch with upper school coaches in the Pagoda to share coaching strategies.Read More -
Ethics philosopher addresses RE community
New York University Philosophy Professor Kwame Anthony Appiah addressed "Ethics in Theory and Practice" during a special assembly with RE students on Feb. 16 and "What is College For?" in an evening event with RE parents; both talks were part of the school's Holzman Center of Applied Ethics Speaker Series. Appiah, also The New York Times ethics columnist, explored what it means to live well and the value of a liberal arts education.Read More -
Next week at the Holzman Center: A special evening with The New York Times’ ‘Ethicist’
The Holzman Center of Applied Ethics welcomes The New York Times’ “The Ethicist” columnist, Kwame Anthony Appiah, for an evening discussion open to parents, alumni, grandparents and other members of the RE community at 7 p.m., February 16, at the Posner Lecture Hall in the Fernandez STEM Center. A New York University philosophy and law professor, Appiah will address the topic of "A Liberal Education and an Ethical Life," examining the connection between inquiry-based learning in a liberal arts curriculum and the practice of ethical living and leadership.Read More -
Holzman Center speaker on the power of persuasion
Kathleen Sullivan, a highly regarded lawyer and law professor, offered students lessons on ethics and the power of persuasion during an assembly on December 13 as part of the school’s Holzman Center of Applied Ethics Distinguished Speaker Series. The former professor of law at Harvard and Stanford Law School Dean reflected on her career in law, her experience arguing eleven cases before the Supreme Court, and the importance of building a “portfolio of arguments” that speaks to an audience of varied decision-makers.Read More -
Former NFL coach discusses ethical leadership
Former National Football League coach Marc Trestman offered Ransom Everglades students advice on ethical leadership during an April 26 visit that was part of the school’s Holzman Center of Applied Ethics Distinguished Speaker Series. The longtime coach who now teaches about leadership at the University of Miami School of Law urged students to focus on process rather than outcomes, and people’s needs rather than their adulation.Read More -
Judge talks judicial ethics with RE students
Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge William Thomas put judicial ethics in a personal context for Ransom Everglades upper school students during an assembly March 1 at the Lewis Family Auditorium. Judge Thomas, the third speaker in Ransom Everglades’ Holzman Center of Applied Ethics Distinguished Speaker Series, described his path to the circuit court bench while addressing how he deals with personal biases, campaign contributions and judicial discretion.Read More -
Home Depot co-founder and philanthropist visits RE
Ken Langone, the Home Depot co-founder and philanthropist whose donations helped make New York University Medical School tuition free, addressed students for more than an hour at Ransom Everglades' upper school on January 19. He shared his rags-to-riches personal story and advised students that making ethical decisions and showing respect for others were always good business.Read More -
Miami mayor launches new ethics center
City of Miami Mayor Francis X. Suarez addressed Ransom Everglades upper school students at an assembly that formally launched the Holzman Center of Applied Ethics, then lingered outside the Lewis Family Auditorium taking questions from the school’s Student Government Association leaders. During his visit on December 7, the mayor reflected thoughtfully on the pandemic and the accompanying ethical challenges, and he fielded questions about homelessness, cronyism, partisanship and other challenges.Read More -
Announcing the Holzman Center of Applied Ethics
Message from Head of School Penny Townsend to the RE community on November 2, 2021:Read More
The Townsend family traveled to Boston late last month to watch our son, Charlie – Uncle Charlie to grandkids Cameron and Caroline – who is on the coaching staff of the San Jose Sharks hockey team. The game took me back to all of the years we cheered him on in his youth; even then, the skill and speed of the players was amazing. To be a good hockey player you have to be athletic and a good skater. In Boston, I was reminded of just how fast ice hockey is, how many split-second decisions the game requires, and how many grueling hours of training are necessary for good decision-making to become instinctive.
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Middle School
2045 South Bayshore Drive, Coconut Grove, FL 33133Phone: 305 250 6850
Upper School
3575 Main Highway, Coconut Grove, FL 33133Phone: 305 460 8800
Founded in 1903, Ransom Everglades School is a coeducational, college preparatory day school for grades 6 - 12 located on two campuses in Coconut Grove, Florida. Ransom Everglades School produces graduates who "believe that they are in the world not so much for what they can get out of it as for what they can put into it." The school provides rigorous college preparation that promotes the student's sense of identity, community, personal integrity and values for a productive and satisfying life, and prepares the student to lead and to contribute to society.