RE Log Fall 2016

34 Ransom Everglades LOG FALL 2016 Student Ne Alex Pissinou Makki ’17 finished second in the Miami Herald’s Business Plan Challenge for high school students in May, topping all but one in a field of 104 entrants with his plan for a Smart-BagPack that sends out electronic alerts when students forget items. Three other RE teams, more than any other school, placed in the top 12. Makki’s backpack is designed to track and manage its contents so students don’t lose school supplies or forget to turn in homework. Makki, a student in Jen Nero’s AP Microeconomics class, got the idea because he had a child- hood friend who always lost track of stuff in his backpack. Public school board commends RE students The Miami-Dade public school board voted to recognize Ransom Everglades teacher Greg Cooper and his AP U.S. Government and Politics students for the online voter guide they launched in February 2016, passing a resolution stat- ing that the class was “to be commended for helping create informed voters in Miami-Dade County.” School board member Raquel A. Regalado, who authored the resolution, invited Cooper and his students to appear in front of the school board in May, commend- ing them for creating the fact-based web site, which was designed to provide an antidote to the inflammatory rhetoric accompanying the 2016 presidential race. Cooper and Alexa Bishopric ’16, Sarah Kirke ’17, Franklin Civantos ’17, Josh Glottman ’17, Jason Perez ’17, Dylan Demello ’17 and Paul Kalandiak ’17 attended. “When I read about what the children at Ransom were doing in terms of civic engagement, I thought that it was a great opportunity to bring them to the school board to talk about their project,” Regalado said. Glottman and Zoe Tolon ’17 designed the site while other students worked in pairs developing the content. They used a variety of public sources to lay out each candidate’s stance on various policy issues. “From the teaching perspective I noticed a real transformation in the classroom of students really becoming engaged with this project,” Cooper said, addressing the board. “ It’s a good example – there’s a lot of talk in education about project-based learning, learning by doing projects like this.” Said Bishopric to the board: “It was really nice when I sat down at lunch to hear people talking about our voter guide, talking about real issues ... seeing young people becoming engaged in politics. I think our discussions in the classroom and socially became a lot more in-depth and informed, and I was really proud to be part of a project that could do that.” http://smu.gs/2cZ1KG2 Students’ business plans lauded Emma Ronzetti ’17 and Laura Zaidenberg ’17 created Access-Able, an app designed to help people with disabilities to enjoy restaurants or other venues. Megan Zou ’18 was recognized for StudentArtDepot, an online platform and marketplace for student-created works of art, conceived by a student artist. Natalie Fredman ’17, Alejandro Sannia ’17, Corey Kraftsow ’17 and Jacob Sokol ’16 designed TryIt!, a mobile app that curates instantaneous fun. Instructors deliver on- demand lessons in anything from painting to Latin to lacrosse.