“I’ve always known that my purpose was to entertain.”
Austin Sayfie Aagaard ’26 says it casually, but at Ransom Everglades, it’s hard to miss. He’s everywhere. One moment he’s passing through the auditorium on his way to rehearsal, the next he’s staying late after dance practice or fixing someone’s makeup before a performance. Whether he’s onstage, behind the scenes, or helping others, Austin has a special way of filling spaces with palpable energy. He’s a performer, a makeup artist, an interviewer, and a leader in RE’s performing arts community, often all in the same day.
That presence has been clear since his earliest years on RE’s campus. Ms. Kira Morgan, an English teacher at the Upper School, taught Aagaard as a freshman and junior and describes him as someone who “fills a room.” Even then, she said, he carried himself with an instinctive confidence. “Austin has always been a large personality,” she said. “Even as a freshman, he had started to understand what he was capable of.”
Long before Aagaard became such a familiar presence on campus, though, creativity was already central to his life. As a middle schooler, he rebranded himself as “Austin Interviews” and began showing up to celebrity red carpet events with a phone and a microphone in hand, interviewing people like Gloria Estefan, Dwayne Wade, and Pitbull. It was intimidating at first. “My first interview, I was shaking,” Aagaard said. “But by the end of the night, I was so confident, talking to people like they were my friends.”
His instinct to put himself out there led to a moment that would shape what Aagaard wanted to do. At eleven years old, he approached Gloria and Emilio Estefan at an event, confidently pitching himself as a singer and dancer. A week later, he was headlining their holiday concert in Miami.
“Being up there on stage at that young of an age, performing in front of thousands of people, was really a solidifying moment for me,” he said. “This is what I wanted to do.”
Soon after, Aagaard brought his confidence to RE, auditioning for his first musical, “James and the Giant Peach,” and becoming the only sixth grade lead at the time as the Grasshopper.
As Aagaard grew older, his creativity continued to expand. During the early days of COVID, he discovered makeup as a new outlet. He began with a Halloween costume experiment which required hours of watching tutorials and practicing makeup skills. “The first looks were absolutely despicably ugly,” he said, laughing. But that process taught him something important. “Your worst mistakes are only one makeup wipe away from the next beautiful thing to come.”
At the Upper School, he found space to grow in his artistic ability. During junior year, students participate in a “Canterbury Tales” unit in which they write original, Chaucer-inspired poems and perform them in class, advancing through competitive rounds. Ms. Morgan recalls that Aagaard quickly emerged as the natural choice to take on a leading role. “He’s a deeply brave person,” she said. “Even when he feels fear, he pushes through it and goes for it anyway.”
Dance itself also became a major part of Aagaard’s identity. Despite never having formal training, he auditioned for the RE Dance Team in ninth grade, becoming the first boy in the school’s history to do so. “If I was going to be the only boy, my biggest goal was visibility,” Aagaard said. He worked to expand the team’s presence on campus, advocating for performances at pep rallies, Battle of the Oar, and athletic events. Today, as senior head captain, Aagaard leads a team that has performed at major venues, including the renowned Hard Rock Stadium.
Through the RE Dance Team, Aagaard also began exploring another creative outlet: makeup. He started doing makeup for friends, learning how to work with different skin tones, eye shapes, and styles. “By the end of practice, I’d have a line of people waiting for me to fix their makeup,” he said. After doing a teammate’s makeup for a dance performance, she told him she had never felt more confident.
Aagaard has also honed his leadership skills in other areas of the arts. As president of Drama Club, he pushed the program further than it had gone before. Last year, he fought to take the club to state competitions, something the group had never been able to do. The result was a breakthrough. Every member placed, earning excellent and superior scores. This year, participation more than quadrupled. “I wanted to make sure that when I leave Ransom, I made an impact on the arts community here,” he said.
At the center of everything is Aagaard’s love for connection. His interview platform, “Austin Interviews,” began as a childhood dream of hosting a talk show, but it represents the core of who he considers himself to be. “What I’ve always wanted to do is connect with people and hear their stories,” Aagaard said. Even as his platform has grown beyond campus, that same instinct has shaped how he interacts with others at RE, uplifting peers, collaborating creatively, and encouraging self-expression.
Now, as a senior, Aagaard reflected on how his time at RE has allowed him to grow into a multifaceted artist. “It’s really about not letting people tell you what you need to be,” he said.
And if his presence at RE isn’t enough of an indication, it won’t be long before Aagaard is a familiar face on screens well beyond campus.
