RE celebrates the Class of 2020
More than a year after their virtual graduation, members of the Class of 2020 gathered in person on June 5, 2021, for a celebration that featured a bit of solemnity, a touch of ceremony, a dose of tradition and plenty of revelry. Many flew in from their current college campuses to enjoy a procession, a walk across stage, a class photo on the Fernandez STEM center steps, the bricklaying in the Miller Family Quad, a lunch and a final jump in the Ansin Pool.
The young alumni dressed in traditional graduation attire for the special day’s opening event at the Lewis Family Auditorium, where the graduates entered separately, heard their names announced, walked across stage, and received a personalized brick. Former student body president Preston Edmunds ’20 addressed her classmates, reminding them of their class motto: “Quality over quantity.”
“This,” Edmunds said, “is not a goodbye like every graduation that came before us. It’s a hello … We’ll always be here for each other, and there will never be a goodbye.”
Head of School Penny Townsend handed each alum a brick as Head of the Upper School Patricia C.A. Sasser read out each name. Graduates also had a chance to watch last year’s video of Senior Send-Off, which was a festive drive-through event. The head of school addressed the graduates, noting that she had heard this event would provide “closure” to the Class of 2020 after so many disappointments during the pandemic.
“I don’t want to look at today as closure,” she said. “I look at it as a day of reopening our doors to you.”
Added Townsend: “You judge a school not by its STEM building, not by its waterfront, not by its pool; you judge a school by the contributions made and lives lived of its graduates.”
Added Townsend: “You judge a school not by its STEM building, not by its waterfront, not by its pool; you judge a school by the contributions made and lives lived of its graduates.”
The 110 members of the class in attendance assembled for a photo on the Fernandez STEM center steps. They enjoyed Tex-Mex lunches and music in the quad, then headed to the pool deck and into a pool filled with inflatable flamingos. Each also received an RE beach towel.
Throughout the day, this video assembled by parents Cristi Edmunds '86 and Marilyn Milian played on video screens throughout campus. Edmunds, Milian, Liz Fitzpatrick, JoAnne Civantos and Lydia Touzet served as members of the Class of 2020 event committee, working with RE's advancement office to put the event together.
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.