Palmer Trinity School

V ISIONA ER IE Miami philanthropist Kirk Landon joins Michael at the microphone (1996). She now works with Breakthrough as a teacher; and she's been to Nicaragua, building homes for families in need. She has learned about the importance of having a talent, being fortunate, and yet knowing that you have to give back, somewhere," he says. "That is what Palmer Trinity instills in young people." BEYOND EDUCATION, Michael believes that Palmer Trinity School has helped all three of his daughters grow as individuals. "They are each finding their own way, but they are all enjoying the school—whether in athletics or the friendships they've made, they have all had wonderful experiences here," he says. "That's one of the nice things about the school; you are who you are, but the school looks at you as an individual and says, 'Okay, what are we going to do? How can we help you reach your potential?' Each one of them will have a different path, but that path will always have the Palmer Trinity value to it—which is really the whole difference of what happens here on campus." Throughout his personal life, Michael has always emphasized the importance of giving back. He spent three years serving on the Board of Directors for Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic— an organization that records textbooks for visually-impaired students. He also continues to do volunteer work with Miami Children's Hospital, which performed life-saving, open-heart surgery on his daughter Ilana when she was only two years old. Michael's volunteer time has also been spent at his church, Holy Rosary-St. Richard. For the last four years, he has served as Co-Coordinator of the Altar Server Ministry, which includes recruiting, training and scheduling parish youth in the ministry in order to assist priests with each of the masses. "I love working with my Altar Server group because it gives me a chance to teach the young members of our Parish a very important part of serving the mass. There's nothing better than taking trainees, teaching them new skills and then watching them blossom into strong, confident members of the parish community." He also did this for one of Palmer Trinity School's recent Alumni, Preston Michelson '13. Preston dreamed of announcing all PTS Falcon games. With Michael as his mentor over the past two years, Preston graduated 34 www.palmertrinity.org Michael joins Preston Michelson '13 at his last game of the year. from PTS as the "Voice of Palmer Trinity School." This fall, Preston is attending Northwestern University, where he was accepted into the prestigious Medill School of Journalism. Given their love for service, it should come as no surprise that both Michael and Natalie took an active part in their children's education. Over the past seven years, Michael has served our school as a trustee, Chairman of the Development Committee, member of the Finance Committee, Secretary of the Board of Trustees, and eventually Vice Chairman of the Board of Trustees. "I made a promise to myself that, each year, I would learn something new," he says. "I had never sat on a board of a private, independent school, and I knew I had to learn the different aspects of the workings of the school, from a trustee's standpoint, so that I could educate myself." "I made a promise to myself that, each year, I would learn something new." LAST Y EAR, when Head of School Sean Murphy announced his resignation, Michael was selected as Chair of the Search Committee. "I, like everyone else, was sad to see Sean leave, but I was honored to be asked to lead the committee," Michael said. "From watching Sean, I knew how very important the Head is in shaping what your school is, and what it will become, and I was excited to be able to help in this way." This year, Michael serves as Chairman of the Board. "Natalie and I had the great fortune of walking onto this campus, falling in love with this place, and having our children educated here. That was due to the hard work, dedication, and sacrifice of trustees well before us," Michael says. "It's like, you take one thing, and when you leave, you make it even better. That's what we want to do."

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