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Ransom Everglades Welcomes New Co-Executive Director of College Counseling

In a move designed to further strengthen Ransom Everglades’ college counseling office, RE announced the appointment this past summer of Jordan Shapiro as Co-Executive Director of College Counseling to serve as a partner with Co-Executive Director of College Counseling Jason Locke. Shapiro arrived at RE from Northeastern University in Boston, where he had served as Director of Admissions Engagement and Associate Director.
Before his tenure at Northeastern, Shapiro worked as an assistant director in the admission office at the University of Miami and a college counselor at the Pine Crest School in Fort Lauderdale. At Ransom Everglades, he assumed the leadership of the college counseling team alongside Locke, who arrived at RE in 2022 after two decades in the admission office of Cornell University.

“We are thrilled to welcome Jordan to Ransom Everglades,” Head of School Rachel Rodriguez said. “His experience as a college admissions director and high school college counselor make him a perfect partner for Jason. We know he will elevate the stellar work already underway in our college counseling office, and that our students and families will be the beneficiaries of his expertise.” 

While he was at Northeastern, Shapiro directed the admission team’s recruitment, outreach and yield strategy. At the University of Miami, he managed the planned student recruitment and evaluated more than 1,500 applications annually, and at Pine Crest, he provided individualized support and services to more than 50 families from the junior year through graduation.

Working as co-leaders, an arrangement modeled by Rodriguez and Chief Operating Officer David Clark ’86, will allow Shapiro and Locke to focus more deeply on their areas of specialty and ensure excellence at every level of the school’s college counseling program. For the past two years, Locke has guided the school through a REimagination of the office, which brought RE from a team of just three counselors to a multi-faceted office of 14. 

A Boston native who was raised in Coral Springs, Shapiro received his bachelor’s in psychology from the University of Central Florida and received his master’s in school counseling at Suffolk University in Boston.

“I’m delighted and honored to join Ransom Everglades School,” Shapiro said. “After years in college admissions leadership, I’ve come to realize how much I missed working directly with students as they navigate this important process. Returning to college counseling, especially at a school as innovative, supportive and dedicated to excellence as Ransom Everglades, feels like a dream come true. This community truly lives its mission and deeply cares about the wellbeing of its students. I’m thrilled to be part of it!”
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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.