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Environmental Sustainability
RE names new Director of Environmental Sustainability
Faculty member Dr. Kelly L. Jackson was named the founding Director of Environmental Sustainability at Ransom Everglades, Head of School Penny Townsend announced on June 2. The appointment, effective immediately, is designed to advance the school’s commitment to sustainable practices, climate change education and youth climate action, and to help Ransom Everglades become an independent school leader in protecting and prioritizing the environment.
Since arriving to RE from the University of Miami in August 2017, Jackson has led RE’s award-winning middle school Green Team and Environmental Sustainability Task Force, and overseen the growth of the annual RE Energy and Climate Change Symposium. She also has co-taught the school’s hands-on Marine Field Research course with faculty members Dr. Brooke Gintert and Dr. Kristine Stump.
In her new role, Jackson has been tasked with overseeing green initiatives on both campuses, developing environmental education programs and facilitating environmental stewardship efforts and advocacy.
“Since joining our faculty four years ago, Dr. Jackson has pushed us to amplify and extend our environmental sustainability work,” Penny Townsend said. “We expect even greater things in the future as she works with our students, faculty and staff to unify efforts across campuses and facilitate more interdisciplinary opportunities and collaboration.”
Jackson earned her PhD at the University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science in Marine Geology and Geophysics. While at UM, Jackson taught marine geology and oceanography, supervised undergraduate research at the Center for Carbonate Research, and won several prizes for graduate student research and publication.
Under Jackson, RE’s middle school Green Team won the Dream in Green 2020 Green Schools Challenge. The year before, the team earned third-place honors. This spring, she collaborated with other middle and upper school faculty to provide myriad activities and initiatives on both campuses in recognition of Earth Week.
"My hope is to unite and expand the many efforts already underway on our campuses,” Jackson said. “This is really a whole campus effort. It has to be everyone working together: students, faculty, administration and RE parents, and it must extend across all disciplines – science, English, arts, social sciences. We need a holistic approach to become leaders in this work.”
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.