RE Log Fall 2016

FALL 2016 Ransom Everglades LOG 33 Middle School students leave Coconut Grove better than they found it ‘The most beautiful classroom you can imagine’ In its inaugural year, the Ibis and Egret Honor Society in the Middle School lived out Paul Ransom’s service- driven mission, raising nearly $2,000 for worthwhile causes and organizations; donating over 1,000 pairs of socks for Camillus House; and collecting supplies for the homeless in Coconut Grove. Students in the society raised more than $1,100 and bagged groceries for Feed the Grove, which helps provide meals to local families on major holidays, while also collecting shampoo, soap, deodorant, brushes, combs and detergent for the Shower House Ministry. Both outreach efforts are administered by the Greater St. Paul A.M.E. Church in Coconut Grove. The group also donated nearly $500 to Eartheasy to send LifeStraws – mini- water purifiers – to Africa. To commemorate the year’s efforts, the society also created a plaque for the Class of 2020 that hangs in the Middle School atrium. Twenty-seven students led by photography teacher Matt Stock captured breathtaking photos of the Northern Lights after midnight, swam in the famous Blue Lagoon, visited a school in Reykjavik, saw Icelandic ponies and launched snowballs in lava fields during their March 12-20, 2016, trip to Iceland. The trip’s highlight came at the Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon, where Stock and his students landed at 10:30 p.m. after a mile-and-a-half hike. At about 12:30 a.m., students spotted the hazy greenish band and started taking photos of the famous aurora borealis. They didn’t get back to their hotel until after 4 a.m. “It really felt like a gift from the universe,” Stock said. “The cameras record it better than you can actually see it ... 27 kids were all out there freezing on a glacier lagoon, screaming with excitement when they saw it.” Stock and the students were joined on the trip by Jen Carey, RE’s director of educational technology, and science teacher Cecilia Calleros ’94 . Other RE student groups traveled to Spain, China, Montreal and Philadelphia during the school’s spring break. “They got to learn in the most beautiful classroom you can imagine,” Stock said. http://smu.gs/2cKa7WB