Once You’re a Cougar, You are a Cougar for Life! Once you become a part of our special Cushman family, you will always be a part of our family. Our alumni are an integral part of our community. At The Cushman School, we celebrate all of our alumni, those who were with us for many years as well as those who were part of our community for a short time. Our alumni have provided meaningful connections across our 99-year history. Dr. Cushman’s teachings and philosophy for life were way ahead of her time. A true visionary and leader, she understood the importance of self-worth, lifelong learning, and empathy in the classroom, and in business. Our alumni are the testament of how her teaching style transcends time and industry, and we are fortunate that our alumni continue the Cushman legacy. The Cushman School provides several ways for our alumni to stay engaged with the Cushman family. Explore our programming and resources for Cougar alumni below. On Founder’s Day (Nov. 1st/Dr. Cushman’s birthday), a group of alumni return to campus and speak to current students. There’s no greater testament to Dr. Cushman’s legacy and the quality of a Cushman education than the diverse and impressive accomplishments of our alumni. Alumni are invited to speak to our High School students about how the endeavors of Industry, Courtesy and Responsibility contributed to their success. Distinguished Alumni Dr. Carey graduated from the University of Florida with a degree in Engineering Science. She earned her master’s degree in Biomedical Engineering from UM. She received her Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from the University of South Florida. Dr. Carey worked for 8 years at the Miami Project to Cure Paralysis as a research associate studying gait therapy of persons with spinal cord injuries. She also worked in Denver for 3 years as a systems engineer and customer trainer for Peak Performance Technologies, a motion capture system company. Currently, Dr. Carey is an assistant research professor at the University of South Florida’s Department of Mechanical Engineering. She is also a researcher at the Tampa Center of Excellence. Dr. Carey is the research coordinator for USF’s Center for Assistive, Rehabilitation and Robotics Technologies and is involved with various studies that include prosthetic design testing, adaptive recreation, virtual reality for rehabilitation and astronaut training. Dr. Carey also teaches Foundations of Engineering and Bioastronautics at USF. After Cushman, Ms. Fernandez attended Ransom Everglades School through the 10th grade and then she went on to graduate from Immaculata La Salle High School. She attended the University of Central Florida where she earned a degree in Biomedical Sciences. Ms. Fernandez is currently attending Nova Southeastern University College of Osteopathic Medicine. Between graduating from college and starting medical school, Ms. Fernandez took a year off from school and volunteered at Miami Children’s Hospital logging more than 1,000 volunteer hours, from tutoring children through the Summerbridge Program, to a toy drive and carnival for children from Little Haiti. After attending Flagler College, Mrs. Mitchell received her master’s degree in Language Arts Education from the University of Central Florida. She has completed her coursework towards a Ph.D. in Texts and Technology. Mrs. Mitchell has taught seventh and eighth grade Language Arts for the last nine years. She has also taught Creative Writing and is a National Writing Project teacher consultant, department chair and team leader. Mrs. Mitchell was voted Teacher of the Year in 2011. In 2011, she was also a finalist in the Barnes and Noble Favorite Teacher contest. After college at the University of Florida, Judge Bryson graduated from Nova Southeastern School of Law and began her legal career in 2001 doing appellate work for the Office of the Florida Attorney General. She practiced in the Third and Fourth District Courts of Appeal as well as the Supreme Court of Florida. Later she served as an Assistant Public Defender in the County and Felony Divisions of the 15th Judicial Circuit, trying over 50 jury trials on a wide range of cases that included life felonies. After leaving the Office of the Public Defender, she spent time in the private sector practicing complex civil litigation. In 2007, she returned to the Office of the Florida Attorney General. As an Assistant Attorney General, she was responsible for prosecuting healthcare fraud throughout five Florida counties. Judge Bryson was elected to the court in 2010 and currently serves in the criminal division of Palm Beach County Court. Matthew graduated from Cushman in 1995. He went onto Ransom and the Professional MBA Program at Florida A&M University, where he earned his B.S. in management (cum laude), and a Master of Business Administration with a concentration in marketing. Matthew has served as the communications director for Sonshine Communications, Florida’s largest African-American marketing communications firm. He also led the account team for The Shaw Group, a Fortune 500 energy infrastructure firm that hired Sonshine to assist with PR outreach after the devastating Deepwater Horizon oil spill. In 2012, Matthew took his current position as Senior Director of Communications and Engagement for The Miami Foundation, Greater Miami’s $200 million endowed community foundation. Since joining The Miami Foundation, Matthew has developed the communications strategy for Give Miami Day, contributing to more than doubling the dollars raised during the most active day of philanthropic giving in South Florida history: $14.4 million in 2019. In 2011, Matthew was recognized by Legacy magazine of The Miami Herald as one of South Florida’s Top 40 Under 40 Black Leaders of Tomorrow. After Cushman, Ms. Newberry attended DASH and graduated from New College with a Fina Arts degree. Ms. Newberry has enjoyed sailing all her life. Since she won the United States Youth Multihull Championship in 2006, Ms. Newberry has been pushing to join the ranks of the best multihull sailors in the world. In the past year, she has won the United States Olympic Development Team Qualifier, several National Championships, the ISAF World Cup Miami and the Nacra 17 North American Championship. Last year, she began a full time campaign for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in the mixed-gender multihull class. Newberry has also set records as the first woman driver to win the United States Multihull Championship. Honored on November 1, 2012, as the year’s most distinguished Alumna, Victoria Beatty graduated from The Cushman School in 1994. She went to Spelman College and received her law degree from Howard University. Ms. Beatty is an Associate at Broad and Cassel Law Firm. She also serves as pro bono legal counsel to the Belafonte Tacolcy Center of Liberty City and has assisted pro bono at the Miami Workers Center and the Small Claims Clinic. Victoria is also a proud volunteer of Jack & Jill of Broward County. She was recently honored as one of the 2012 “40 Under 40 Leaders of Today and Tomorrow” by Legacy Magazine. South Florida’s own fashion designer, Esteban Cortazar, was a graduate of The Cushman School where he completed his first collection at age 13 for a talent show on campus. He then went onto DASH and made his New York Fashion Week debut at age 18 in 2002. Since then he has dressed the likes of Eva Longoria, Shakira, Mariah Carey, Paris Hilton, Kim Cattrall, Ashanti and Beyonce. In 2005 Cindy Crawford briefly came out of retirement to walk in his New York Fashion Week runway show. Today his highly anticipated clothing line is available exclusively at NET-A-PORTER.COM. Monica Burgos graduated from Cushman in 2004. She swam, played volleyball and played soccer for the Cougars. After Cushman, she went on to Ransom Everglades, lettering in swimming all four years. She was All-County all four years, and captain her junior and senior seasons. She was named All-State as a junior and All-American as a senior. Monica attended Harvard University and competed on the Harvard swim team. As a freshman, she won the 200-medley relay and the 50-free in her collegiate debut in the season opener against Cornell and Dartmouth. She was part of the winning 400-medley relay squad that set an ECAC Championship record in the event (3:48.06). As a sophomore, she helped set meet record in the 200 free relay, capturing the event title at ECAC Championships. The following year, she led the Crimson as they took the 400 medley relay title and set a new meet record with a time of 1:34.47 at 2011 ECAC Championships. Taking a break from swimming after her impressive accomplishments, Burgos studied abroad her senior year at Crimson. Max Fink played baseball for the Cougars and graduated from Cushman in 2004. He went on to play high school football and lacrosse at Gulliver Prep. Max recorded 18 sacks junior year and 15 as senior. He made First-Team All-Dade County and Third-Team All-State junior year, and First-Team All-Dade County team defensive MVP as senior. He also earned Scholar-Athlete honors the last two years. After high school, Max went on to play defensive end at Yale University. He graduated from Yale with a degree in Economics in the Spring of 2015. Following in her parents’ footsteps, 16-year-old Emily Estefan graduated from The Cushman School in 2008. She has become an accomplished musician and is a featured guitarist in the song titled “On” from Gloria Estefan’s newest album. Nick Bosa attended Cushman until 2009. He played basketball for the Cougars. He followed his brother Joey to play football at St. Thomas Aquinas in Fort Lauderdale. He was a four-year starter for Aquinas teams that won 7A state championships in 2012 and 2014. Nick was first-team 7A all-state as a sophomore and junior but missed a large part of his senior season with an injury. He was named Under Armour All-American. He was a consensus 5-star prospect nationally by ESPN, Rivals, 247Sports and Scout, and one of the Top 10 overall prospects in this recruiting class with ESPN ranking him No. 3 on its 300. He chose Ohio State over Florida, Florida State, Alabama and Notre Dame among others. In his freshman season at Ohio State, he was second on the team in quarterback sacks with 5.0 while contributing 29 tackles and three quarterback pressures. Nick was named Freshman All-American (ESPN) and OSU Scholar-Athlete after his freshman season. Chris Balseiro graduated from Cushman in 1996. He played soccer and ran cross-country for the Cougars. After Cushman, he attended St, Thomas Aquinas High School in Fort Lauderdale. He played varsity football in his senior year. He finished the season as an All-State selection and received a scholarship to the University of Arkansas. During his tenure, Chris finished 7th all-time in scoring as a kicker for the Razorbacks. He was a three-time All-SEC selection from 2003-2006, leading Arkansas in scoring with 195 points during that span. In 2003, Chris made ESPN SportsCenter by kicking a game-winning field goal against the Alabama Crimson Tide in double-overtime. He set an Independence Bowl record with four field goals in a victory over Missouri 27-13, scoring 14 points in that game. In his career at Arkansas, Chris connected on 75% of his field goals and 97% of his extra points. Chris graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Kinesiology. In 2007, he went on to play Arena Football for the Lubbock Renegades. In his first game, he kicked a game-winning 46-yard field goal as time expired. He was a candidate for Rookie of the Year in 2008 after leading the league in extra point percentage and finishing third in field goal percentage. Marcel Archer graduated from Cushman in 2002. He played basketball, baseball and ran cross-country for the Cougars. He attended St. Thomas Aquinas High School from 2002 to 2006. During his high school career, he ran for 1,835 career yards and 17 touchdowns. In 2005, he collected 896 yards and 10 touchdowns to lead his team to a 13-1 record and also helped St. Thomas Aquinas to back-to-back Florida class 5A state runner-up honors in which they were nationally ranked #10 and #3 respectively. Marcel went on to play college football, earning a full scholarship to Central Michigan University. The Chippewas made it to back-to-back MAC (Mid-American Conference) Championships, two Motor City Bowl appearances and two Championships. A two-year letterwinner at CMU, Archer played in 12 games as a true freshman in 2006 and tied for the team lead with seven rushing touchdowns. He rushed for a career-high 70 yards and scored three touchdowns in the Chippewas MAC West Division-clinching win over Western Michigan, earning the league’s West Division Offensive Player of the Week honors. Marcel transferred to Scared Heart University where he ran for 1,073 yards and 17 TDs in his last two seasons. He graduated from Sacred Heart with a Bachelor’s Degree in Sport Management. Nick Castellanos was the first inductee into The Cushman School’s Athletic Hall of Fame in September 2011. The 2004 Cushman graduate, Nick Castellanos, was awarded minor league MVP this past year while playing baseball for the Detroit Tigers. In 2010, Nick was the Gatorade Florida Baseball Player of the Year and the 44th overall selection in the Major League Baseball Draft. Caroline Haldeman-Emmerling graduated from Cushman in 2008 where she played volleyball and tennis for the Cougars. She attended high school at New World School of the Arts and went on to study fine art at Purchase College, State University of New York. Caroline played tennis for the Panthers beginning her sophomore year at Purchase. She competed at third singles, second doubles and received the coaches award at the end of her season. During her second season on the team, Caroline continued at No. 3 singles and No. 2 doubles. She was awarded MVP by her coaches at the conclusion of the season. In her final year, Caroline played No. 1 singles and doubles helping her team reach the semifinals of the Skyline Conference Tournament. She was selected to the Skyline Conference’s All-Sportsmanship Team. Named #45 overall recruit in the 2013 recruiting class by ESPN 150, Joey Bosa graduated Cushman in 2009, went on to play football at St. Thomas Acquinas and he’s confirmed to play at Ohio State next fall after choosing from 11 extended offers. Update your contact information and be sure to stay informed of alumni happenings, news, and opportunities.
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