Academics
Signature Programs
The Everglades Experience
Ninth-Grade Signature Program:
The Everglades Experience
For more than 40 years, ninth-grade students 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 and growing as environmentalists and leaders. Students leave their smartphones behind, traveling by canoe, cooking their own meals and spending nights in tents or "boarding up" on the water. In preparation for the trip, ninth graders learn water safety, canoe handling (including capsize drills) and navigating with a compass. They also learn to sail and participate in kayaking, paddleboarding and swimming as part of the PE curriculum.The Everglades Experience signature program represents the capstone of the ninth-grade experience at RE, which is designed to ease the transition to high school. Ninth graders are surrounded by adults who are concerned about their academic, social and physical development, and they engage in special opportunities to grow and learn together.
Ryan Holtzman '00
"You're living on a canoe, boarded up, with 12 people sleeping under mosquito nets. I mean, it sounds horrible ... It's not, it's probably one of the best experiences I've ever had in life not just through school."
Recent News
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Ninth-grade students participate in annual Everglades Experience
RE ninth graders extended a decades-long tradition by participating in the annual four-day, three-night trek through the Ten Thousand Islands. The Everglades Experience with North Carolina Outward Bound School was the culminating event of their fall and winter physical education curriculum, which included bay studies, navigation and canoeing. The students traveled to Everglades City in three waves, with the first group departing in early January and the final group returning at the end of the month.Read More
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Ninth graders return from Everglades trips with Outward Bound
Read MoreRE's ninth graders have completed their annual treks to the Everglades, the five-day, four-night adventures with Outward Bound that are a 40-year tradition at RE. Departing in three waves, ninth graders traveled in January to the Ten Thousand Islands National Wildlife Refuge, where they set off from different locations in small groups, tasked with finding their way back to base camp. They used compasses and maps to navigate canoes through mangrove tunnels, stormy weather and high winds. RE physical education teacher Tim McAllister oversaw the adventures, and ensured that students prepared during their PE classes.
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Ninth graders enjoy annual Everglades Experience
RE's ninth graders have returned from five-day, four-night treks through the Ten Thousand Islands as part of the annual Everglades Experience. Departing in four waves from January to early March of 2023, the students paddled canoes through the Ten Thousand Islands National Wildlife Refuge, relying on compasses and peers traveling with them to find their way from various locations to base camp. They faced difficult paddles through mangrove tunnels, spent nights sleeping on "boarded-up" canoes, endured rain and wind, and enjoyed opportunities to watch the sun rise. Photo GalleryRead More -
Freshmen travel in four waves to Ten Thousand Islands
After a one-year pause because of the pandemic, freshmen returned to the Ten Thousand Islands in the Everglades this winter, resuming the experiential learning tradition at Ransom Everglades that dates more than 30 years. In deference to COVID-19, freshmen traveled in four waves instead of two and each student was required to submit to a rapid COVID-19 test the morning of departure.Read More
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First wave of Outward Bound departs
Nearly 40 freshmen departed Ransom Everglades on January 10 for the start of their five-day, four-night Outward Bound adventure in the Ten Thousand Islands, marking a return of the tradition that dates back more than 30 years. In deference to COVID-19, freshmen are traveling in four groups – instead of two – this year, and each student must test negative on a rapid COVID-19 test the morning of departure to participate in the canoeing and camping trip in the Everglades. No students tested positive in the January 10 testing.Read More -
Marine Field Research students go shark tagging
Ransom Everglades’ Marine Field Research students participated in one of the course's signature field trips: a shark-tagging excursion. Two classes of juniors and seniors each spent a day aboard a 55-foot research vessel in mid-February, looking for sharks on Biscayne Bay near Stiltsville and then, when a catch was made, stabilizing the shark and executing a number of research tasks.Read More -
Class of 2023 completes trip to Everglades
The Class of 2023 traveled to the Everglades in two waves in January, keeping alive a 30-plus-year-old tradition and surviving what is an annual rite of passage for freshmen at Ransom Everglades. The first group of freshmen traveled through the Ten Thousand Islands on Jan. 13-17 and enjoyed balmy, sunny South Florida weather. The second wave (Jan. 21-25) was met with unseasonably cold weather and high winds upon arrival, but pleasant conditions thereafter.Read More
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Freshmen return from Outward Bound
Some 150 ninth graders spent five days and four nights in Florida's 10,000 Islands in late January, participating in Ransom Everglades' annual freshman adventure that illustrates the school's commitment to experiential learning and fostering an appreciation of the natural world. The freshmen broke off into teams of eight students each and undertook separate journeys through the region's waterways with guides from the North Carolina-based Outward Bound. Photo GalleryRead More -
RE to offer scuba certification
Ransom Everglades will offer a PADI Open Water Diver scuba certification class for students at the Ansin Aquatic Center and onboard RE boats. The class will meet from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturdays in October (Oct. 6, 13, 20 and 27). Students interested in earning their scuba certification must commit to each of the classes, and should sign up by emailing Dr. Kelly Jackson. Students must be a minimum of 12 years old and comfortable swimming.Read More -
Miami Waterkeeper trains RE students
Student members of a new water patrol program gathered for classroom training on September 15 to prepare for monthly boat patrols of local waterways. The effort is led by Miami Waterkeeper, a Miami-based non-profit dedicated to protecting Biscayne Bay and the surrounding watershed. The organization is also using a lab at the Upper School to do weekly testing of bay waters.Read More
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Middle School
2045 South Bayshore Drive, Coconut Grove, FL 33133Phone: 305 250 6850
Upper School
3575 Main Highway, Coconut Grove, FL 33133Phone: 305 460 8800
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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.
Ransom Everglades School®, The RE Way™, RE Pathways™ and Bowden Fellowships in the Humanities™ are trademarks of Ransom Everglades School.
Ransom Everglades School®, The RE Way™, RE Pathways™ and Bowden Fellowships in the Humanities™ are trademarks of Ransom Everglades School.