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Students celebrate Booker T. Washington exchange

Two dozen Ransom Everglades juniors and seniors and their Booker T. Washington partners so enjoyed their week-long exchange they good-naturedly pleaded for an extension to the fourth-annual event during a wrap-up dinner at the RE dining hall Feb. 2. Everyone — including the organizers — wished it could last a bit longer.
Students embraced, laughed, got choked up and cried. Some did the Booker T. Washington handshake. All shared memories of the week during the celebratory dinner, and many promised not to let the experience end after the concluding program on social justice the next day at Florida International University Biscayne Bay Campus.

Sophia Elliott '18 said the entire RE student body appreciated the presence of the Booker T. Washington guests during four days of classes, assemblies, lunches and free periods. "This exchange brought everyone into it and made everyone happy in our community," she said.

"I immediately felt loved," said Booker T. Washington student Jada Williams. "I felt the welcome from the teachers, staff and students. When you feel love, it's easier to give love. I felt at home here. I'm sad it's coming to an end."

Half of the group spent the majority of the week on the Ransom Everglades campus, attending classes with their RE student hosts. The other half did the same at the Booker T. Washington campus in Overtown. Both schools are historically significant in Miami: Ransom Everglades was founded in 1903; Booker T. Washington in 1926.

"The past few days have been some of the best days of my life," said Riss Mendizabal '17.

Said Gigi Parra '17: "We're going to keep in touch. This is not a one-time thing."

Dean of Students Joshua Stone helped engineer the event on RE's campus with assistance from Head of the Upper School Ken Mills and staff and faculty members Michelle Black, Blair Betts, Danielle Ellis and others. Head of School Penny Townsend supported the exchange along with Booker T. Washington Senior High Principal William Aristide and other Booker T. Washington officials.

"Anybody who has been remotely involved with the program has benefited from the energy that just happens when you put it all together," Stone told Booker T. Washington students, parents and the administration at the final dinner. "You enrich us. You make us better at Ransom Everglades. This is an exchange in the most beautiful sense of the word."

The following RE students participated:

Imari Sandoval '17
Dylan Demello '17
Thorstein Andreassen '17
Jeannie Szomstein '17
Riley Steinhour '17
Sheridan Rodstein '17
Sean Becker '17
Natalia Baigorri '17
Erin Bakes '18
Wesley Mihm '18
Jason Gould '17
Riss Mendizabal '17
Schuyler Sanford '17
Will Danon '17
Blake Denson '17
Hannah Tacher Lois '18
Sophia Elliott '18
Patrick Geraghty '18
Skylar Scharer '18
Briana Pottinger '18
Jacob Weintraub '18
Catherine Kolski '18
Giovanna Parra '17
Carolina Carrera-Justiz '18
Julian Zighelboim '18
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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.


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