RE LOG - Spring 2017

SPRING 2017 Ransom Everglades LOG 39 Freshmen camped on beaches, slept on canoes on the bay and ate packaged burritos and maca- roni and cheese. They observed dolphins, manatees, sharks, pelicans, osprey, ibis and herons by day, and shooting stars and bioluminescence in the water at night. They came back from their Outward Bound trips to the Everglades scruffy, grubby and craving hot showers. Everyone had a great time. Seventy-four freshmen traveled from Everglades City into the Ten Thousand Islands area of the Gulf from Jan. 17-21; 71 students made the same trip Jan. 23-27. In Everglades City, they split into eight crews of eight to 10 students with two Outward Bound instructors per crew. Ninth graders prepared for this annual trip with the North-Carolina- based Outward Bound during their first-semester physical education classes. Faculty Penny Matthews and Paul Elkins led the freshman Bay Studies Program, teaching students about the physical, tactical and emotional challenges they would face. They also emphasized teamwork and independence to ensure that students would be able to take care of themselves and others when they arrived to Everglades City sans smart phones. Karen Thompson, 9th-Grade Class Dean, helped organize the adventure. Photo gallery at: http://smu.gs/2kRv8Fr Twenty-three juniors have counseled freshmen in 2016-17 as part of a new health education program at Ransom Everglades that provides peer-to-peer instruction on a variety of physical, mental and emotional health topics. Junior Peer Health Educators meet with groups of freshmen during the weekly advisory periods to talk about issues such as abuse, alcohol, nutrition, sex, drugs and depression. Ransom Everglades was one of only two independent schools from among 45 in Miami-Dade County selected to join this year’s program by the Health Information Project, a Miami-based education non-profit. Juniors lead new peer-to-peer counseling program Libby Meland ’18  serves as the president of RE’s HIP board along with Gilles Gouraige ’18 and Cecilia Lopez-Jordan ’18 . Alberto Adatto has been assisting as faculty advisor. The following RE juniors make up the rest of the school’s Peer Health Educator team: Austin Acosta, Ben Arriola, Jasper Beardslee, Noelle Burke, Casi Cobb, Ande Edmunds, Falyn Goldstein, Rebecca Hadwen, Rhona He, Leo Menninger, Zach Miller, Ellie Moret, Paulina Pages, Jake Pearson, Fernando Perez- Hickman, Briana Pottinger, Noa Richard, Stella Sable, Lauren San Martin, Hannah Tacher. Outward Bound Freshmen return from trek through Everglades