RE LOG Fall 2017

FALL 2017 Ransom Everglades LOG 3 Our teachers rouse and shape our students’ aspirations, and guide them as they follow their dreams, but the fuel that propels the journey comes from a different source: You. Find in our 2016-17 Report of Giving how your record-setting generosity once again allowed our students to thrive in the classroom and beyond, while providing financial aid for underserved students, professional development for faculty, and improvements in technology and facilities. I agree with our Director of Advancement, Greg Pollard, who wrote in his opening letter on page 55, “together, we are achieving new heights and securing a bright future for this special school.” Indeed, we all play a part. One who has played a huge part is my friend and colleague Rudy Prio Touzet ’76 , chair of RE’s board of trustees. I am grateful that he and our board have aspired to an even better future at Ransom Everglades, showing foresight, courage and visionary thinking as they have shepherded our school. Rudy’s leadership has been rooted in his experiences as a student at Ransom Everglades. You will learn in this issue that Rudy arrived to the Ransom School with a sense of wonder and awe that he never quite lost. As a student, he valued those elements of a Ransom Everglades education that remain fundamental and important today. Various teachers made learning and striving a joy. He chased his passions and stretched himself, enlarging his goals as he made his way to graduation. As I enter my fourth year at Ransom Everglades, I am excited that we continue to enlarge our goals. As we eagerly anticipate the soon- to-come transformation of our Upper School campus, starting with the building of the Multidisciplinary + STEM Center, it is perhaps appropriate that I call on a governing scientific principle to close this letter. Sir Isaac Newton noted in his first law of motion that an object at rest stays at rest, and an object in motion stays in motion. I am proud to say that Ransom Everglades resides firmly in the second category. As we aspire to bring further excellence to the student experience, we are a school community in motion. We are on our way to an amazing future. Penny Townsend Head of School Aspiration is what precedes success. It is the beginning of achievement. Our greatest accomplishments can be traced back to those singular moments that motivate, encourage and drive us.