Ransom Everglades Alumni Weekend 2025: A celebration of community and connection

The festivities launched with the 50 Year Club gathering at Joe’s Stone Crab, where 70 attendees celebrated the newest members from the Classes of 1975 Ransom and Everglades and enjoyed a private lunch graciously hosted by fourth-generation owner Steve Sawitz ’75.

The Spring Alumni Party drew more than 250 alumni to La Brisa on a breezy evening, and it included many special guests including faculty emeriti Owen Paris, Alina Mendoza, Ginny Onorati, Penny Matthews and Bobbie Bassuk. Special reunions were celebrated by several classes: Ransom 1960, Ransom 1975, Everglades 1965, Everglades 1975, RE 1985, the 1989/1990/1991 Joint Reunion, 2000, and 2005. Former band members Todd Thompson ’85, Paul Acosta ’85, David Gordon ’85 and Mike Malinin ’85 took the stage at La Brisa and performed at their class reunion, joined by RE band director Jon Hamm.

A poignant Service of Remembrance in the Pagoda honored the memories of 20 individuals, including alumni, faculty emeriti, and former faculty who passed away in the previous year. Special tributes were paid to Ella Adler ’27, Liam O’Keefe ’21, Robbie Landon ’85 and faculty emeritus Greg Siegler by family and friends, helping to ensure that their legacies will live on in the RE community.

The Saturday of Alumni Weekend offered plentiful opportunities to gather from morning until nightfall. Everglades School for Girls alumnae attended a traditional brunch on the Everglades campus – the current middle school – as alumni sailing and water polo got underway in the bay and on the Ransom Campus. 

After the morning activities, Head of School Rachel Rodriguez, Chief Operating Officer David Clark ’86, Head of the Upper School Donald Cramp Jr. and Head of the Middle School Pete Di Pace sat on a leadership panel in the Pagoda; there they offered alumni a glimpse at the state of the school and answered questions. Following lunch on the Miller quad, a newly formed of alumni with children under age 5 called D.R.E.A.M. (Dynamic RE Alumni Minis) gathered for family activities including face painting, bubbles, games and more.

Educational sessions led by RE faculty members in the Fernandez STEM Center were a highlight, with English teacher Matt Margini offering a class called “Interactive Storytelling with Artificial Intelligence” and science teacher Gus Palacios teaching “dREamLab: Introduction to Microfabrication Tools and Techniques.”

Student-led campus tours offered alumni a chance to revisit both campuses, and the weekend also featured the third annual Black Alumni Reunion, which included remarks by RE Director of Inclusion and Community Engagement Wendell Graham ’74, RE Alumni Board member Jamila Stephens ’12 and Black Student Association co-founders James Weaver ’90 (also an RE trustee) and Bev Watson ’90.

RE’s advancement office under director Vicki Carbonell Williamson ’88 put together Alumni Weekend 2025 from Alumni Board Co-Presidents Rachel Narvaez ’99 and Phil Cassel ’03, Reunion Weekend Co-Chairs Katie Muraro Pedroso ’00 and Cristy Rasco Davis ’97, and the full alumni board.
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