RE Log Spring 2018

38 Ransom Everglades LOG SPRING 2018 Hurricane Irma Ransom Everglades’ facilities team worked overtime and students, faculty, staff and administration contributed to a massive clean up in the wake of Hurricane Irma, which flooded the Upper School athletics field, damaged the school’s waterfront and gym, and forced the cancellation of school from Sept. 7-18, 2017. Irma obliterated the mangroves between the athletics field and bay, tore up the field’s turf surface, destroyed one of the school’s three docks, and flooded the erg room under the pool and first floor of the gymnasium – and its offices, locker rooms, training room and workout facility. There was, however, no significant damage elsewhere on the school’s campuses and the La Brisa property. The historic Pagoda and Ransom Cottage sustained no visible damage, and all of the school’s academic buildings weathered the storm with only expected wear and tear to roofs. Both campuses were left without power for a week and were littered with downed trees and fallen limbs. Three boats washed up on the Ransom Campus; a crane was brought in to help remove them. Dozens of faculty and staff helped out in the days after the Sept. 10 storm, and nearly 150 Upper School students showed up to help clear debris from the athletics field on a Saturday during the hurricane break. Facilities Director Erick Ceballos and Chief Financial Officer Jim Cowgill directed and oversaw the monumental clean-up effort. The Balm after the Storm RE community joins in campus cleanup after Hurricane Irma View of the Robert E. Walker Field during the storm (photo by Erick Ceballos).