RE Log Spring 2023

40 Ransom Everglades LOG SPRING 2023 By Wendell Graham ’74 and Victoria Beatty ’00 We wouldn’t have a strategic plan without our stories. Stories from our own school days at Ransom Everglades shape the work we do daily, and inspired the three-year strategic plan we recently presented to the RE Board of Trustees. Before we dive into the vision of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) at RE and share with you our progress, we want to take you back to our years at Ransom Everglades. I remember the January of my tenth-grade year at RE because my grandmother died. I didn’t cry at the funeral; I thought I was fine. But at school the next day, I got into a really loud fight with my best friend. We were fighting in the breezeway so my screams were literally vibrating through the campus. It was clearly my fault. After Mr. Clark [current COO and Interim Head of the Upper School David Clark ’86 , who was then the Dean of Students] broke us up, I ran into the bathroom at the entrance of the breezeway, locked the door, and sank into the floor in a flood of tears. I clearly wasn’t okay. Mr. Clark called my mom immediately. She told him about my grandmother’s death. He talked to me afterwards about my behavior and healthy ways to cope with her death; more importantly, though, I didn’t get into any real trouble. That was Mr. Clark to a lot of us, kind of like a bridge between us and school leaders and, even sometimes, our parents. At least that’s how the Black kids I hung with saw it. Truthfully, without him advocating and keeping a watchful eye, some of us would never have graduated. – Victoria Beatty ’00 , DEI Consultant to Ransom Everglades We were all in the middle of a social experiment which obviously went well, but at the time was a little unsettling and scary for everyone. As a brand-new eighth grader, the only people who looked like me on the Main Highway campus were Louise Smith and Jeff Cordy, the maid and groundskeeper. Indeed, at that time, it was the only campus because the two schools were five years away from merging. Headmaster Robert E. Walker, Dan Bowden, Michael Stokes, Geoff Pietsch and James Beverley ’62 consciously steadied the tiller. There was no formalized project, but each found an opportunity to “check in’’ with me. Mr. Bowden did not teach me until Sixth Form, but he already knew not only me, but also my mother, grandmother, sister and brother. Mr. Walker was always available if I needed a “father” for the father/son athletic dinner or simply a steadying presence. Mr. Pietsch and Mr. Beverley always kept tabs: “Trying out for track next week? You know you should; you will enjoy it.” “Finish writing your speech?” “You do know about the dance. You are going, right?” And Mr. Stokes, like Mr. Bowden, was omni-present, the classroom, the field, the court. You name it, he was there. The communal spirit of Paul C. Ransom pervaded the campus. From First Form through the letter “Z” of the senior class – there were barely 300 students in the entire school – we cared for one another and we made this diversity thing work because somehow we all seemed to realize it was good for us as green-blooded people, as a school. But then, yes, it was a simpler time. It was a time when we understood the value of being one. – Wendell Graham ’74 , RE Director of Inclusion and Community Engagement The Office of Inclusion and Community Engagement is working diligently to sew this bridge of understanding and connection into the fabric of RE. Fall semester of 2022, we spent a great deal of time putting our vision and commitment in writing. We presented a Three-Year Strategic Plan to the Board of Trustees and its DEI committee requesting a yearly commitment of resources to sustain our work and grow our team. Of course, recruitment continues as a priority. We expanded our outreach to local schools to ensure we are identifying and encouraging talented future applicants. Last semester was undoubtedly a shift inward, enhancing rather than expanding. We conducted a listening session with our Black female faculty where we obtained invaluable insight on current experiences. We are presently implementing several improvements as a result of this conversation. We hosted a formal dinner of Black faculty and staff to connect with RE administration and DEI board committee leaders, James Weaver ’90 and David Duckenfield. The conversation was enlightening and has assisted us tremendously in planning and enhancing current programs. One program specifically is the RE Teaching Fellowship program, which is designed to help Ransom Everglades attract faculty of color and was initiated this school year. We are thinking through how to improve the mentorship and housing aspects of this new program. DEI at RE From Stories to a Strategic Plan Student experiences at Ransom Everglades shape approach to DEI