RE Log Spring 2019

SPRING 2019 Ransom Everglades LOG 13 1990 “Coming from the public school system, I had to work to catch up,” said Weaver, now executive managing direc- tor at UPS in Cleveland, Ohio. “It was nice to have a support group, a resource where I felt comfortable saying, ‘Hey, I’m not getting this.’” Weaver and McGee experienced a warm and genuine outreach from their non-black friends and RE’s families. They recall being welcomed into homes in the most exclusive communities in Miami, and bringing their friends into their low-income neighborhoods. “When my friends would come to pick me up, there was no judgment, ever,” said McGee, who majored in industrial engineering at Florida International University. “They were like, ‘Let’s go meet your grandma.’ It was like it was no big deal.” The sincere goodness of those people and depth of the friendships smoothed over the occasional slights and more frequent displays of ignorance. If there is any regret, McGee said, it was that the pure gratitude some black students felt might have prevented them from raising their voices when a gentle reproach or demand for an apology were appropriate. “We were just thankful to be through the door,” he said. “If anyone felt like they were mistreated or anything like that at Ransom Everglades, they wouldn’t have spoken up. I know I would haven’t spo- ken up. I wouldn’t have wanted to have made any waves.” Mike Miller ’92 loved the school from the start and has no interest in cataloguing what he considered to be infre- quent – and usually adolescent – affronts. But one incendiary comment from a former high school math teacher pro- vided motivation that drove him for years. He “told me he didn’t think I was smart enough to be an engineer,” Miller said. “From that point on, every math teacher I ever had, I was in his office trying to understand everything,” Miller said. “I had to learn how to study. I had to learn how to be resilient, and I also had to learn to deal with different cultures, people who were not like me.” Miller went on from RE to study me- chanical engineering at the University of Miami, then was hired by the Marathon Oil Corporation, where he became the company’s youngest Subject Matter Expert – a designation for technical au- thority in a specific discipline. In his 16 years at Marathon, he has held a number of posts in the United States and over- seas including engineering, construction and maintenance manager. For Miller, merely being on RE’s cam- pus made it clear to him he could defy expectations. As he watched students arriving to school in expensive cars and going home to mansions on Miami’s waterfront, he didn’t feel left out. He felt let in to a world that was now within his reach. The disparaging remark didn’t derail Miller; it focused him. “There was a drive for knowledge, a drive to do your best,” he said. “I was surrounded by a lot of exceptional individuals that really motivated me. I wanted to prove to myself that I could do it, too.” Weaver and McGee experi- enced similar feelings. “I was very proud of Ransom Everglades while I was actually there,” Weaver said. “It was the best of the best. Even at a young age, I knew what that meant, and how it would relate to the next phase of my life.” Said McGee, director of revenue man- agement for a resort management com- pany in Hilton Head Island, S.C.: “I was meeting great people, going to school by the bay. During my free periods, I would go down and look at the water. I felt blessed to be there. My education flour- ished there. When I left middle school, I was at the top of my class. When I came to Ransom Everglades, I was at the bot- tom. My closest friends were two maths ahead of me. But that was great for me. To this day, I like to put myself around people who will make me better.” 1989 1989-90 BSA L-R: Jack Leyden, Beverly Watson ’90, James Weaver ’90, Monique Roundtree ’92, Larry Morrison ’90, Gordon Myers ’92, Elizabeth Thomas ’93 , Michael Miller ’92, Stephanie Chandler ’92 Mike Miller ’92