After 47 years, Ginny Onorati gets a sweet goodbye
Middle school students and colleagues gave Ginny Onorati the largest, warmest embrace they could muster virtually during an emotional assembly on May 20, celebrating the school's longest-serving math teacher with an assortment of tributes, testimonials and videos as she concluded her 47-year career with Ransom Everglades. The school planned to further celebrate Onorati and other departing faculty – including English teacher Tom Dughi, who is retiring after 25 years – during closing meetings.
Head of School Penny Townsend and Head of the Middle School Rachel Rodriguez each shared their gratitude and well wishes; faculty members Joe Mauro, Greg Siegler, Karen Key and Laura Miller offered personal reminiscences and messages; and countless colleagues participated in a faculty video tribute. (You can find the file here. The entire assembly is here.)
Onorati has taught nearly every subject in math and computer science since arriving to Ransom Everglades out of Trenton State College in 1974. She has overseen the middle school math team for decades, and been involved in St. Alban's Day, the Toy Store, and myriad other service efforts. She was the Florida Mathcounts Coach of the Year in 2016-17. She won the school's Arthur Moses Faculty Award in 1999.
"Ginny Onorati has been the guiding force for mathematics on the middle school campus for a long time," Siegler said. "Not only has she been the consummate math teacher, but she's also been a prime example of a faculty member active in every aspect of school life ... It is hard to imagine the middle school without Mrs. Onorati."
"Forty-seven years of teaching is a record few teachers anywhere could match," Mauro said. "Although we will sorely miss you, you have earned and deserve a great retirement."
More than a dozen alumni and current students also sent their thanks and congratulations via long-distance tributes in a video assembled by Onorati's current advisees. The alumni included: Morgan Sendzischew '03, Laura Greer '03, Danielle Katz '03, Veronica Diaz '95, Jessica Shore-Pomeraniec '03, Luke Samson '03, David Miki '98, Lisa Landy '81 (and son Lefty Howland '22); Alec Rodriguez '14; Joshua Unger '92 and Michael Brodie '04. You can find that video here.
Faculty member Grace Gonzalez read a tribute from married alumni Chryso Pefkaros Katsoufis '98 and Lambros Katsoufis '92 – they and daughter Zoe Katsoufis '24 were all taught by Onorati. "The thanks owed by your body of students cannot be summarized in a few words," the Katsoufises wrote. "You have been the example of what all caring teachers can be for their students, and your legacy will live in all of us whose lives you touched."
Onorati, whose final day in class was May 28, sent an email of gratitude to her colleagues after the surprise event. Her note read, in part:
"I am overwhelmed after watching today's assembly. It has been an honor to be a part of this amazing school and to work with so many talented and caring colleagues and students over the years. I thank everyone who had a part in putting it all together and I can honestly say I was completely surprised!! .... I must stop now - the keyboard is getting very damp!!"
Back
Onorati has taught nearly every subject in math and computer science since arriving to Ransom Everglades out of Trenton State College in 1974. She has overseen the middle school math team for decades, and been involved in St. Alban's Day, the Toy Store, and myriad other service efforts. She was the Florida Mathcounts Coach of the Year in 2016-17. She won the school's Arthur Moses Faculty Award in 1999.
"Ginny Onorati has been the guiding force for mathematics on the middle school campus for a long time," Siegler said. "Not only has she been the consummate math teacher, but she's also been a prime example of a faculty member active in every aspect of school life ... It is hard to imagine the middle school without Mrs. Onorati."
"Forty-seven years of teaching is a record few teachers anywhere could match," Mauro said. "Although we will sorely miss you, you have earned and deserve a great retirement."
More than a dozen alumni and current students also sent their thanks and congratulations via long-distance tributes in a video assembled by Onorati's current advisees. The alumni included: Morgan Sendzischew '03, Laura Greer '03, Danielle Katz '03, Veronica Diaz '95, Jessica Shore-Pomeraniec '03, Luke Samson '03, David Miki '98, Lisa Landy '81 (and son Lefty Howland '22); Alec Rodriguez '14; Joshua Unger '92 and Michael Brodie '04. You can find that video here.
Faculty member Grace Gonzalez read a tribute from married alumni Chryso Pefkaros Katsoufis '98 and Lambros Katsoufis '92 – they and daughter Zoe Katsoufis '24 were all taught by Onorati. "The thanks owed by your body of students cannot be summarized in a few words," the Katsoufises wrote. "You have been the example of what all caring teachers can be for their students, and your legacy will live in all of us whose lives you touched."
Onorati, whose final day in class was May 28, sent an email of gratitude to her colleagues after the surprise event. Her note read, in part:
"I am overwhelmed after watching today's assembly. It has been an honor to be a part of this amazing school and to work with so many talented and caring colleagues and students over the years. I thank everyone who had a part in putting it all together and I can honestly say I was completely surprised!! .... I must stop now - the keyboard is getting very damp!!"
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
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.