Ransom Everglades School

A private institution with a public purpose, Ransom Everglades combines rigorous college preparation with a commitment to leaving the world better than we found it. From the days when the school split the year between the Adirondacks and Coconut Grove, Biscayne Bay has been the true center of student life, the setting for everything from biology classes to sailing and kayaking. Stewardship of nature remains a core value. Every freshman receives a compass and is taught how to use it during a five-day Outward Bound trip to the Everglades.

Learning to navigate unfamiliar environments has always been a key part of a Ransom Everglades education, whether the challenge is physical, academic or ethical. Developing leadership capabilities is equally important and, at RE, leadership is defined as creating opportunities for others. Almost all of our students participate in service programs — many of which are conceived, funded, staffed and led by students.

The faculty of Ransom Everglades implements a pedagogy that empowers students to own their learning, exposes them to global perspectives and integrates technology, all while preserving a classroom environment based on inquiry and valuing student-centered, discussion-based learning. Students in grades seven through 11 engage in structured research projects across the disciplines, resulting in the gathering and analyzing of data and the crafting of original work.

Students also find opportunities to pursue their passions through facilitated summer internships, the Dan Leslie Bowden Fellowships in the Humanities, the annual Ransom Everglades Business Plan Challenge, and a Course of Study that includes a broad variety of courses in the humanities, social sciences, STEM fields, and the arts.

All middle school students study Spanish; additional language offerings include French, Portuguese, and Chinese, and through our partnership with the Global Online Academy, Japanese and Arabic. The course offerings of GOA, along with well-developed world history and literature programs; travel opportunities to Spain, France, China, Canada, Iceland, Haiti and Puerto Rico combine to challenge students with the points of view of many cultures. Robotics and computer programming are intentionally part of the student experience, familiarizing all middle-school students with principles of programming and design, and all students work with Excel and MATLAB in Algebra II and Calculus courses, respectively.