22 Ransom Everglades LOG SPRING 2026 By Jess Merrick, Director of Teaching & Learning Last fall, we did something that seems obvious but is surprisingly rare in schools: we surveyed students to gauge interest in what topics they wanted to learn. Not what we thought they should learn, but what genuinely excited them. What questions kept them up at night? What skills do they need to help search for answers? Seven hundred students across the middle and upper school responded. Under the direction of Head of School Rachel Rodriguez, faculty and administrators listened and learned. Our students’ responses have helped Ransom Everglades reimagine, expand and deepen the curriculum and classroom experience. Students wanted courses that connected directly to the world they are entering. They wanted to understand how modern systems work. And they wanted opportunities to go deep. The result is nine new courses launching next fall at the upper school – including Quantitative Finance and AI, and Research Seminar: Literature and AI – and an eighth-grade signature program called The Third Class Capstone, which will allow our students to explore their passions and carry out independent projects through new elective opportunities. Mrs. Rodriguez recently announced new AI Innovation Fellowships for upperclass students that will be awarded this spring and serve as STEM-based partners to the Dan Leslie Bowden Fellowships in the Humanities. On top of that, faculty member Jenny Gragg Carson ’03 is leading a new externships program (see page 26). It’s been an exciting few months at Ransom Everglades. These developments reflect RE’s dedication to its core values and academic vision: “Guided by The RE Way, we support students through an innovative curriculum that emphasizes skills-based mastery and authentic engagement. Students thrive in a school community grounded in both support and challenge, preparing them for current and future success.” That vision isn’t abstract. It means treating students as partners in their education. It means building a curriculum that responds to real intellectual curiosity. And it means preparing students not just for college, but for the world they will inhabit. Six months into my role as Director of Teaching & Learning, my work centers on three priorities: strengthening academic alignment across the school, using data to guide innovation based on what students actually need, and building curriculum coherence so learning develops meaningfully from grade to grade. Enhancing our curriculum Business courses, such as Quantitative Finance and AI, emerged as one of the highest-demand classes in the survey. In addition to learning about investing, students want to understand how machine learning is transforming financial markets, how algorithms influence trillion-dollar decisions, and how predictive models are built and evaluated. The course delivers on that ambition. Students build and test machine learning models using real market data. They study portfolio theory and investment strategies, then apply neural networks and decision trees to analyze market behavior. They examine how AI is reshaping trading, risk management and financial decision-making. We’re not just teaching students to use tools. We’re teaching them to understand the mathematics underneath, to recognize when a model’s assumptions break down, and to question what these systems can and can’t tell us. They’re learning to challenge the algorithm, not just trust it. Exercise Science and Anatomy gives students the biological framework to understand human performance. Scuba Certification opens underwater ecosystems for direct study. History and Evolution of the Spanish Language allows students to trace how language changes across time and culture. Others reflect emerging interests. Graphic Novels explores the complex interplay between text and image. Modern U.S. History connects past decisions to present realities. Mangrove and Forest Ecology grounds science learning in South Florida’s unique environment. Forensic Science applies chemistry and biology to real investigative problems. And two courses explore the intersection of traditional disciplines and artificial intelligence because students told us they want to understand the systems reshaping nearly every field they may enter. Understanding the systems that shape our world Guest speakers and university partnerships connect classroom theory to current industry practice. Students leave prepared for advanced study in finance, economics, statistics or data science. More importantly, they leave with the ability to make thoughtful, ethical decisions in rapidly evolving fields. The Explorer Externship Program offers another meaningful way to link RE’s classroom experience to real-world exploration. From visits by outside speakers during informative “Lunch and Learn” events to meaningful summer work experiences crafted by RE alumni, our students are benefiting from new partnerships and powerful alumni connections. When Students Drive the Curriculum: A Vision for Teaching and Learning at RE “Our students’ responses have helped Ransom Everglades reimagine, expand and deepen the curriculum and classroom experience.”
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NTY4MTI=