Alumni Spotlight | Sallie Ransom ('86, LD '25)

When Sallie Ransom (’86, LD ’25) looks back on her Darlington days, it’s not just the classes or the campus she remembers most — it’s the shared experiences. Whether it was sprinting up and down the basketball court with a team that went 29-1, or trading stories around a campfire decades later with friends at Camp Seafarer, Ransom’s life has been shaped by the power of community — and it all started at Darlington.

“My most memorable shared experience at Darlington was as a team member on the women’s basketball team,” she said. “The grit, accomplishment and challenge I experienced for four years will never leave me — especially being a part of that incredible 29-1 team.”

Sallie wasn’t just a student at Darlington — she was part of a Ransom family legacy. She first stepped on campus as an infant when her father taught there, and returned as a student in middle school, eventually graduating as a proud member of the Class of 1986. Twenty members of the Ransom family have attended Darlington so far, including her cousin, Miley James (’25), who just graduated in May. The school is woven into the fabric of her family history and continues to play a role today.

“I remember seeing my cousins, Bedell James (’87, LD ’25) and Ingram (James) Link (’84), in the halls when I was a student,” said Ransom. “And years later, my cousin, Bess (Husser) Creech (’93, LD ’25), would be sitting in the stands cheering me on during my basketball games. That sense of continuity and shared tradition is so powerful.”

Fast forward to today, and Ransom is still surrounded by the spirit of youth development, teamwork, and leadership, just in a different setting. As vice president of overnight camping for the YMCA of the Triangle, she now leads strategic planning and operations for three major camps: Sea Gull, Seafarer and Kanata, serving more than 8,000 campers each summer.

If you’re wondering how a marketing major from Auburn University ended up devoting three decades of her life to camping and recreation, the answer circles back once again to Darlington.

“I never would have found camp if it wasn’t for Darlington,” she said. “Three of my teachers, Bill Ellis, Mark Tayloe and Billy Caldwell, worked at Camp Sea Gull during the summers. They introduced my cousin, Ingram, to the camps, and then Ingram told me what I was going to do after my freshman year at Auburn — work at Camp Seafarer. That was the start of it all.”

That first summer at Seafarer was a revelation. “I walked into the dining hall and people were standing on their benches, singing and laughing,” she recalled. “It was wild. It was wild and wonderful. I didn’t fully get the magic until about five weeks in, but when I did, it never left.”

Today, Ransom is not just a part of the Sea Gull, Seafarer and Kanata communities — she’s a leader helping shape their futures. These three camps are positioned to do transformational work, and Ransom's passion to ensure their relevance and strength for the next generation is stronger than ever.

For current Darlington students considering careers in athletics, recreation or youth development, she has simple but heartfelt advice: Do it.

“It’s hard work where you will learn more about yourself than you ever imagined,” she said. “You are putting yourself into a space that’s both complex and transformational. This work is a lifestyle. Not a job.”

And while Ransom didn’t major in recreation, her path was shaped by the experiences and people that influenced her early on — many of them at Darlington.

“If you love kids and want to be an influencer on their growth and development, then this is the path, second to being a teacher at Darlington, of course,” she said.

Kids, she believes, need these experiences more than ever. “They need to be outdoors and away from their phones,” she said. “They need to try and to fail. They need to see themselves in a positive light and believe they can accomplish anything.”

And thanks to Sallie Ransom, thousands of them get that chance every summer.