RE LOG - Spring 2017

SPRING 2017 Ransom Everglades LOG 9 As students signed on, many RE families put up cash or offered summer housing for the arriving college-student teachers. Adria Rasken, an early Summerbridge board member and mother of three RE graduates, spent seven years helping Flickinger and Weiser raise funds for the program. The mix of community goodwill and enthusiastic salesmanship allowed Flickinger and Weiser to invite some 40 rising sixth-grade students from around Miami for the program’s launch in the summer of 1992. By 1993, the number of students had doubled. “It was always a challenge to raise the money every year,” said Weiser, who joined the Summerbridge board in 1993, eventually becoming board chair, “but the support of Ransom Everglades was really key.” Growing Up Fast It didn’t take long for progress to become measurable. Ferguson and several others were accepted into Ransom Everglades as full-time students, most receiving full scholarships. In 1999, the first class of Summerbridge students received high school diplomas after seven years in the program. The Miami Herald chronicled the achievement. Every single student who remained in Breakthrough graduated. Ninety percent went on to four-year colleges or universities. The program thrived so fast and so thoroughly, it soon outgrew Ransom Everglades’ grounds. In the early 2000s, sites were opened at the Liberty City Charter School and Corpus Christi Catholic School, allowing for an expansion of 150 students. Many Breakthrough scholars who had gone off to college began returning to Miami during the summers to teach. “That was a major touch-point, when our students started coming back as teachers,” said Flickinger, who now works with several RE alums at Beacon College Prep, a high-performing public charter school for underserved children in Opa-locka. “They could say, ‘If I could do it, you can do it.’” Unlike with other summer internships, Breakthrough teachers received primary instructional responsibilities. Mentored throughout the summer by professional educators from Ransom Everglades and other local schools, the student-teachers were handed Brian Braddy ’05 and John Flickinger flank Terron Ferguson ’04 after his New York University Law School graduation Renee Sterling ’00 Breakthrough student MS and BS in Accounting at the University of Florida Ransom Everglades Class of 2000 Notable Job History Regulatory Reporting Vice President, Goldman Sachs, London Regulatory Reporting Analyst in Controllers in the Finance Division, Goldman Sachs, London External Auditor for Deloitte and Touche in Atlanta and Washington, D.C. “Summerbridge opened my eyes to the infinite possibilities that the world has to offer and introduced me to some of my closest friends. I was exposed to great schools and am fortunate to have been accept- ed into Ransom Everglades. Both Breakthrough and Ransom Everglades are the reason I was able to appreciate and capitalize on opportunities as they were presented.” Summerbridge made me “a well-rounded student of life.” – Jennifer D. Delma, Director of Firm Operations, EoA Inc.