A spirited month at Ransom Everglades

Homecoming 2022 brought out school spirit in our students, faculty, staff, parents and loyal alumni. If you attended the Oct. 7 festivities, you surely enjoyed the jubilant display of Raider Pride and RE spirit. From the first middle school volleyball match to the lively swim meet to the concluding varsity football game that ended with a last-minute, game-winning score, it was a day of special moments and lasting memories.

Watch a recap video here.

The lead-up to the event included spirit activities on both campuses; decorating touches provided by our dedicated parents; pep rallies featuring the RE dance team; and fundraising for breast cancer awareness. (The week before, students executed a successful drive for Hurricane Ian victims.) RE also welcomed three extraordinary athletes – tennis player John P. Geraghty ’73, three-sport star Lola Arellano Pegg ’93 (swimming, basketball and water polo) and two-time Olympic water polo gold medalist Ashleigh E. Johnson ’12 – into the RE Athletic Hall of Fame the night before homecoming.

And that was just one week in October. Our Class of 2023 Dan Leslie Bowden Fellows in the Humanities presented their phenomenal summer work during an upper school assembly that elicited ovations and plaudits from their peers and faculty members. Middle and upper school students joined with faculty to create festive and educational celebrations of Hispanic Heritage Month on both campuses, and upper schoolers worked across disciplines to share information that highlighted historic challenges for the LGBTQ community as a part of LGBT History Month. Students also played in sports postseason games, entertained at concerts and plays, organized campus wellness activities, and participated in speech and debate and other school endeavors. A robotics tournament at the Anderson gymnasium drew schools from across South Florida and featured five teams from Ransom Everglades.

As the month wound down, we opened the doors of La Brisa, the refurbished 1920s residence that sits in the middle of the 6.9 acre swath of land acquired six years ago. You can read more about it in the communication just below from Jonathan Fitzpatrick P ’20 ’23, the Chair of the Board of Trustees at Ransom Everglades. As Mr. Fitzpatrick shares, Ransom Everglades worked diligently to restore the building without infringing on the breathtaking greenspace around it. We are grateful to have more spaces to work, relax and commune with nature.

This has, indeed, been a special month, illustrating what “school” means to us. Ransom Everglades will never be merely a site for classes. This is a place that allows our students to stretch themselves daily, live full and productive lives and, perhaps most importantly, learn the meaning of community.