Academics
Signature Programs

Ninth-Grade Curriculum

Focus on freshmen

From the moment freshmen arrive to the Ransom Campus, they are welcomed and supported. The ninth-grade curriculum at Ransom Everglades is designed to ease the transition to high school, and it provides freshmen a range of resources, services and experiences just for them. Ninth graders are surrounded by adults who are concerned about their academic, social and physical development, and they are provided special opportunities to grow and learn together.

Ninth graders benefit from the freshman advisory program and have access to two dedicated class deans. Every freshman gets out on Biscayne Bay as part of the school's physical education requirement; they learn to sail, canoe, paddleboard and navigate with a compass. In the winter, freshmen travel together to the Everglades, where they spend five days and four nights, camping, bonding and exploring. The freshman year is truly an exciting time at Ransom Everglades.

Deans of the Freshman Class Albert Adatto and Patrick Hession

"The transition to the upper school, as exciting as it is, also holds its challenges. Classes are more rigorous, higher critical and analytical thinking levels are expected, and students must have more ownership and responsibility in their learning ... We are here to help guide your children through this experience."

RE Explores

Components

List of 6 items.

  • Freshman Advisory Program

    All freshmen are placed with faculty advisors who remain with them throughout their high school journey. Advisory meetings take place daily; during the freshman year, those meetings are focused on social and emotional wellness, study skills and citizenship activities informed by the High Resolves program.
  • Dean of the Freshman Class

    Faculty member Karen Thompson is available to help freshmen with questions about their course load, classes, grades, course selection or other matters.
  • Freshman Curriculum

    The freshman curriculum includes a year-long physical education course in bay studies, which exposes ninth graders to sailing, paddling, water safety and navigating with a compass. Freshmen also take World Civilizations, Forms of Literature and biology, and they participate in an active advisory program. For one week each year, freshmen enjoy a spoken-word poetry immersion that helps them appreciate the art of poetry while learning more about themselves.
  • Outward Bound Program

    For more than 30 years, freshmen at Ransom Everglades have journeyed into the Ten Thousand Islands in the Everglades for a five-day, four-night adventure that helps them bond as a class while learning useful life skills. Students leave their smartphones behind, traveling by canoe, cooking their own meals and spending nights in tents. They forever remember this special time as a class.
  • Health Information Project (HIP)

    Trained juniors and seniors meet with freshmen monthly to discuss issues related to health and wellness. The sessions, coordinated by the Health Information Project (HIP), are designed to promote open, frank discussion about important health issues. HIP, a Miami-based health education non-profit organization, was created in 2009 as both a substitute for and complement to the traditional health education curriculum in public and private high schools. The HIP model is preventive, not reactive. HIP, which has partnered with more than 85 schools across the state of Florida, has taught over 260,000 students since its founding. 
  • Spoken-Word Poetry Seminars

    Traveling poets Kane Smego and Giddy Perez use language and spoken word poetry to inspire freshmen during a week of poetry training and discussion every year. They inspire freshmen to find insight in poetic works, put hard-to-express emotions into words, and deliver their works confidently to their peers.

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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.