RE Log Spring 2023

24 Ransom Everglades LOG SPRING 2023 in 1951. I was happy at The Cushman School for the years I attended. They knew I’d have to go on and they didn’t feel there was a good secondary school for girls in Miami so that gave them the idea to create one. They really were dedicated to this.” Andrea: “My parents were also involved with Everglades School for Girls at its inception. My mother was a Wellesley College graduate, and she knew and liked Marguerite Hersey, who was the headmistress at Abbot Academy in Andover, Mass. Abbot was one of the first boarding prep schools educating young women in New England in grades 9–12. Miss Hersey came down to Miami to discuss the founding of Everglades with my parents and the Swensons.” Kaki: “I think about how really young my parents were at the time. They found land located in a residential neighborhood in Coconut Grove and a wonderful board was created with architects and lawyers and financial advisors and – after quite a bit of zoning work – the school was born! The first four original teachers were terrific people. As students we were all very much included in making decisions about how the school would be. We were part of the decision-making processes, everything from designing the uniforms to creating clubs and publications. “The Everglades spirit was ‘Drop the mop and pick up the broom,’ types of things where everyone was involved. We all had a chance to participate in so many activities – plays and musicals, publications. The new classes were developing and growing, and seeing the faculty arrive and develop was incredible.” Jourdan: “I remember having assembly every morning and someone had to get up and read something they’d chosen. A poem or something. It really taught us public speaking because we had to keep doing it throughout the year because there were so few of us and your time came up again. Or we would sing. Our classes weren’t lectures, but more like discussions, total interactions.” Bebe: “We had morning assembly, then class, a break with healthy snacks, another class, then lunch, followed by afternoon choices (typing, Brownie and Girl Scout group meetings or sports). The auditorium was also the lunchroom.” Jourdan: “In the first few years, all sports were done just beyond the Dell (where Swenson Hall is today). Later we would cross Bayshore Drive to a field for soccer and field hockey. There were tennis courts and a small concrete building with lockers for our stuff. White jump suits with shorts were our uniform for PE. I remember the field went all the way down to the water.” Bebe: “The classrooms had no air conditioners or heaters. There were jalousie windows open so the breeze could go through. We had a lot of classes outside; we were always outside.” Judy: “The school divided us into two teams and every student was either an Egret or an Ibis. We spent the entire year working on a point system. It wasn’t just sports, though sports was a big part of it. We had different projects, including community service projects. In my junior year I was captain “There was this special kind of energy, and everyone had to pitch in together including teachers. We were such a small group in our class and we were all friends. ” – Jourdan Moore Houston ’62 of REuniting From the 1962 yearbook