RE Log - Fall 2023

10 Ransom Everglades LOG FALL 2023 Discovering RE Rodriguez was awaiting an appointment at a small salon in Pinecrest fully absorbed in grading the English essays stacked on her lap. Shelly Stamler, assistant director of the Ransom Everglades Middle School, entered the salon, and the papers caught her eye. Impressed to see such dedication, Stamler – also an English teacher – introduced herself. They talked for a long time, and Stamler decided then and there that Rodriguez needed to work at Ransom Everglades. “She was so intelligent and insightful about the curriculum, and she cared so much about kids, that I thought she would be great at RE,” Stamler said. She invited her to campus shortly thereafter, but did not have a job to offer at that time. A year later, she did have an opening, although it wasn’t an English teacher position. Stamler had been promoted to Director of the Middle School. She wanted to bring in Rodriguez as her assistant. The Head of School at the time, Ellen Moceri, interviewed Rodriguez. Moceri, like Stamler, immediately sensed something special and offered Rodriguez the job. “I thought she was going to bring a vitality to our leadership team, and a wisdom about middle school kids,” Moceri said. “Her knowledge and understanding from the very beginning struck me. I was also struck by her understanding of the mission of the school. She understood the motto ‘honor and excellence’ – that you can’t have excellence without honor.” When Rodriguez arrived to the middle school, she made a difference from the start, particularly in the creation and implementation of the advisory program. “She was adamant about developing a robust program that would enrich the character development of the students as much as their intellectual development,” recalled faculty member Maria Eugenia Abrante. Rodriguez pursued the belief in lifelong learning instilled by her father by attending the National Middle School Conference and numerous workshops and conferences offered by the Southern Association of Independent Schools and the National Association of Independent Schools. In 2018, she completed a certificate in Advanced Education Leadership through the Harvard School of Professional Education. Rodriguez did not forget the exceptional students she had taught at Southwood Middle School, one of whom was De Leo. After Rodriguez had departed for Ransom Everglades, she stayed in touch with her former student, offering her support and encouragement. The daughter of a single mother, De Leo was touched by Rodriguez’s outreach. No one – besides her mother – had ever seen such potential in her. When she applied to a couple of independent schools and received offers of admission from both, she chose Ransom Everglades. As a ninth grader at RE, De Leo immediately felt at home at the upper school, challenged and surrounded by bright, inquisitive students and caring teachers. Late in her senior year, she was named valedictorian of RE’s Class of 2010. She attended Harvard College. “Mrs. Rodriguez changed my life,” said De Leo, now a physician and Assistant Professor of Radiation Oncology at the University of Florida, and married to former classmate Edward De Leo ’10 . “It made me feel very seen and special for her to have taken that notice of me. She gave me this gift that I will never be able to fully thank her for. It was a pivotal moment in my life.” Two years into her tenure at Ransom Everglades, Rodriguez assumed the head of the middle school post when Stamler took time off to care for her ailing mother. Stamler eventually returned, settling into the assistant role under Rodriguez. “We loved working together,” Stamler said. “The entire day we kept each other laughing. We loved hanging out with the middle school kids. That was what we had at the middle school – the joy with the kids.” After 16 years at the middle school, during which both of her sons attended and graduated from RE, Rodriguez decided to step back. She resigned from her post after the 2020-21 school year. She had been away from RE for not even a year when she heard from members of the Ransom Everglades “The culture of a school is everything, and relationships are the basis for educational passions. You never know what you are going to say to a child that will stay with them, whether it is positive or negative.” – Rachel Rodriguez, Head of School Rachel Rodriguez meets with a parent in La Brisa