RE LOG Fall 2024

FALL 2024 Ransom Everglades LOG 17 A relaxation of rules also came to the Everglades Campus, and conversations shifted to the women’s movement, the Vietnam War and other concerns of that era. “We were given quite a bit of freedom,” Penn Noble said. “There was a smoking house that seniors could go to and smoke. We also had open campus; if you had a car you could take your car off campus … I remember the seniors going off my junior year and I couldn’t wait for my senior year.” Amid those changes, a handful of girls began traveling to the Ransom Campus for certain classes such as chemistry and calculus, and boys started arriving at the Everglades Campus for art, drama and chorus. Graham was the first Black student at Ransom and the school’s board welcomed its first women. Meanwhile, the dress code continued to evolve. “By the end of my term, said Prio Touzet, “it was platform shoes, polyester pants, Nik Nik shirts … You still wore a tie, but it could be a bow tie; it could be whatever you wanted.” It was in 1971 that the boards of both schools began formally discussing coeducation, and a report on coeducation was soon commissioned from a consulting firm. Though the schools had officially merged in time for the 1974-75 school year, it wasn’t until 1975-76 that a full uniting of campuses took place. That was when the Everglades Campus became the middle school, and the Ransom Campus became the upper school. Frank Brogan became the first headmaster of the joint schools. He succeeded Ransom headmaster Walker and Everglades head Macdonald – both of whom resigned from their posts. Brogan inherited 610 students and 64 faculty, according to Honor & Excellence: A Century of Ransom Everglades School . Lindseth recalled that she and Stuart Miller ’75, the president of the student body at Ransom, were invited to share their insights as members of a student liaison committee. “That was a pretty incredible opportunity for a 12th grader to be in on high-level conversations like that,” she said. “My sense all along was to take the best of both schools and integrate them as well as possible.” “My sense all along was to take the best of both schools and integrate them as well as possible.” – Kate Sullivan Lindseth ’75