News Detail
REconnect: REconnections bring alumni back to Ransom Everglades
Ryan Shear ’01 took a break from a busy workday to share his thoughts on “REconnecting” for this magazine. During the course of a 16-minute interview, his phone beeped twice with incoming calls.
Both calls came from fellow RE alumni.
Andrew Warman ’02 and Sam Agnoli ’07 wanted to talk to Shear about ongoing real estate development projects that he ultimately oversees. Shear hired them both, along with Adelaida Albir ’11, to work at the real-estate development firm in Miami that he helped found. The fellow Raiders now cross paths daily at Property Markets Group (PMG) on the 13th floor of a sleek glass building on Biscayne Boulevard that sits across from Bayside and down the block from the Freedom Tower.
“Ransom Everglades is this phenomenal school,” said Shear, a managing partner of PMG. “I had a 10-out-of-10 experience when I was there. You know you are getting great people, thoughtful, smart, and they care about Miami. It’s an easy hire … It’s all organic connections. It has been beneficial to me by a long shot, so I’m very grateful for it.”
The mini RE hub at PMG is one of many REconnections that illustrate the unity, quality, power and depth of the RE community into which Ransom Everglades students graduate.
RE’s advancement office counts nearly two dozen alumni who, like Shear, currently employ or recently hired fellow RE alumni. And those job connections offer just one example of the REconnections that bring members of the Ransom Everglades community back together. Six RE families (see photo boxes on RE Log web page) recently hit a significant milestone – each hit a third generation of Ransom Everglades attendance when family members who are children of RE graduates and also grandchildren of Ransom School or Everglades School for Girls alumni were admitted to the middle school.
Two of the most meaningful REconnections in recent years have occurred among Black alumni and alumnae from the Everglades School for Girls. Roxi Vadia Morgenstern ’75 has worked tirelessly to unite classmates from her Everglades days since realizing that many felt disconnected or out of touch with RE, which came into existence after the 1974 merger of Everglades and the Ransom School. Cheyenne Range ’14 and Jamila Stephens ’12 identified a similar disconnect among Black alumni, many of whom had stayed in touch with their close friends but lost contact with their school. In the past three years, the newly formed Everglades Steering Committee and Ransom Everglades Black Alumni have connected RE graduates across generations.
Meanwhile, the school’s advancement office under Director of Advancement Vicki Carbonell Williamson ’88 continues to hold well-attended events for RE alumni in New York, Washington D.C., Los Angeles and San Francisco in addition to the annual Alumni Weekend – which brought 363 alumni from 28 states and four countries to RE last April. Over a decade ago, Alexi Luger Laffoon ’05 and Coley Laffoon ’92 met at a Los Angeles alumni event; they married in 2015 and have five children.
Marissa Stamler Canida ’06 chairs the Alumni REconnect Committee, and alumni serve on the school’s alumni board, participate in service activities through REACH Too (Ransom Everglades Alumni Can Help Too) and serve on the alumni panel at RE’s annual business plan challenge.
“Ransom Everglades is more than a school,” said Williamson, who has worked at RE for 17 years. “It’s with you for life. You are always going to be a part of this community. The relationship is ongoing, and it is something you treasure more and more as the years go by.”
Williamson is joined by fellow alumni David Clark ’86, the school’s Chief Operating Officer, Amy Sayfie Zichella ’93, Director of Admission and Enrollment Management, and Wendell Graham ’74, the Director of Inclusion and Community Engagement, on Ransom Everglades’ senior leadership team. The school also employs Maggie Pearson ’80 in the advancement office, and longtime teachers Jenny Carson ’03, Paul Natland ’02 and Henry Stavisky ’85 along with School Support Specialist O.J. Armstrong ’17 and Ashleigh Moses Lindenauer ’94 in admissions.
“REconnecting is about renewing friendships and leveraging the RE community for professional and personal opportunities.We invite all RE alumni, parents and families to share their time, opportunities and industry expertise with the next generation of Raiders.”
Liz Fitzpatrick P ’20 ’23, chair of the REconnect Task Force
There is more than one way to come back to Ransom Everglades, but the result for many is similar: Alumni find that REconnecting allows them to tap into a community of people that shares the same values and provides friendship, support, mentorship – and, increasingly, even jobs. As Liz Fitzpatrick P’20 ’23, a founding member of the newly established REconnect Task Force, put it: “REconnecting is about renewing friendships and leveraging the RE community for professional and personal opportunities. We invite all RE alumni, parents and families to share their time, opportunities and industry expertise with the next generation of Raiders.”
Job REconnections
The most meaningful REconnections take place in person, but the initial spark is often provided by an online tool: the school’s four-year-old REconnect web platform, which allows alumni to identify RE-owned businesses, potential jobs or mentors, or simply to track down old friends. Veronica Alcorta ’96 hired Camila Medina ’11 as a merchandising specialist at Bulgari (LVMH) after Medina reached out on REconnect. Alcorta, a Senior Merchandising Manager, said she didn’t think twice when she saw Medina’s credentials. “Since we shared a similar background and had been exposed to the same learning environment at RE, I knew Camila had the right qualities needed for the role,” Alcorta said. “She was well prepared, had great communication skills and a strong work ethic.”
An added bonus for Alcorta: the opportunity to provide mentorship.
“I know how important it is to have a mentor guide you through your career,” she said. “It’s been a great experience with Camila.”
Alcorta served as an RE class ambassador for several years before joining the alumni board in 2021. She is currently alumni co-chair of The Fund for RE.
“Our RE network,” she volunteered, “is priceless.”
Sam Singer ’13 has loved working under fellow RE alum Michael Sullivan ’05 as a commercial real estate broker at Vertical Real Estate, a boutique firm in Miami. The RE network “is very powerful and the opportunities are endless, no matter what field you want to get into,” said Singer, in his fourth year with the company.“ Mike has taken me under his wing and has mentored me and taught me how to be a successful broker. He has been very generous with his time and allowed me to work on deals with him to learn.”
Sullivan, a Principal of Vertical Real Estate, described the experience of hiring and then working with Singer, whom he met through other RE alumni, as “fantastic.” He added: “My friends at RE are still my best friends today and I’ve developed new relationships through work in the RE circle.”
REconnecting Black alumni
Sullivan, a Principal of Vertical Real Estate, described the experience of hiring and then working with Singer, whom he met through other RE alumni, as “fantastic.” He added: “My friends at RE are still my best friends today and I’ve developed new relationships through work in the RE circle.”
REconnecting Black alumni
Cheyenne Range grew up in her own small RE circle: she loved Ransom Everglades in part because her uncle Patrick Range ’95 had attended. While she was a student, she recalled, she also had an invaluable mentorship experience with Dwanita Fields ’00, at that time an employee of Breakthrough Miami on the RE campus. After Cheyenne Range left RE for Howard University, however, the connection waned. She did not return in full force until the summer of 2020. She, Stephens, Ashley Dotson ’14, Carey Green Jr. ’11, India Huff ’11 and George Uche ’14 reunited during that time of social unrest and began reaching out to other Black alumni. They were appreciative of support they received from non-Black allies at that time, but they were also determined to make sure it was their voices that set the agenda for improving the experience at RE for Black students and other students of color.
“We wanted to take ownership of that as Black alumni,” Range said. “We were the people at that time feeling the most disconnected from our institutions, we were the people feeling the social unrest, we were feeling disenfranchised … What ended up happening was a beautiful collaboration.”
“Where we landed as a community was saying that we need to be connected. The goal of reBa, as we called it – the Ransom Everglades Black Alumni – was to connect all Black alumni, regardless of their given experience on campus.”
Cheyenne Range ’14
“We wanted to take ownership of that as Black alumni,” Range said. “We were the people at that time feeling the most disconnected from our institutions, we were the people feeling the social unrest, we were feeling disenfranchised … What ended up happening was a beautiful collaboration.”
RE’s Black alumni and the group of allies worked together to send parallel letters to the RE administration. Not long after, Graham, the first Black student at the Ransom School and a long-time judge in Miami, was appointed to his current post, Victoria Beatty ’00 was hired as DEI Consultant to RE, and James Weaver ’90 was invited to join the school’s board of trustees. The collaboration led Range, Stephens, Dotson and other alumni to ask: what’s next?
“From that there were many conversations… and where we landed as a community was saying that we need to be connected,” Range said. “The goal of reBa, as we called it – the Ransom Everglades Black Alumni – was to connect all Black alumni, regardless of their given experience on campus, whatever challenges they may have had. We have had just over 300 Black alumni at RE; it’s like a family. It’s messy, it comes with its ups and downs. We said: let’s get back together and connect.”
That’s happened through reBa and the alumni board at RE; Weaver previously served as co-chair of that board, and Range and Stephens are both active members.
And, thanks to reBa, the REconnection is happening earlier for current Black students. Stephens has spearheaded meet-and-greets on campus for new Black families, and has worked to ensure that Black students are connected to reBa before they depart for college. She has also reminded alumni of the importance of their presence for support and mentorship. “A lot of effort has been focused on bringing Black alumni back,” Stephens said. “We want them to come back and be involved with the students, get to know the students, let the students know they are not alone.” Several graduating seniors attended the Black Alumni Reunion last April that drew 53 guests – a record number of Black alumni.
Said Seabrook, who graduates this spring: “It’s a great system and a great opportunity that RE provides. It’s rare for most high schools to give their students and alumni these chances, and everyone should take advantage of this amazing network of people.”
Everglades women REconnect
Morgenstern has taken a circuitous route back to Ransom Everglades, and she is determined to bring fellow Everglades alumnae with her. She greatly appreciated her time at the Everglades School for Girls – “it was totally life-changing,” she recalled. “I knew that it was a spectacular place and very special.” But, she acknowledged, when she left – she now lives in New York City – she “moved on with life.” When invited by a former RE faculty member to meet with his students during a class trip in New York City in 2019, she found herself connecting with one particular RE student. She stayed in touch with that student, who then contacted her for advice in the summer of 2020. Morgenstern enjoyed and was honored by the interaction at such a critical time. Soon after, Morgenstern agreed to serve on RE’s alumni board and now works closely with Pearson, the Assistant Director of Alumni Relations.
“As I started going to meetings,” Morgenstern said, “I realized we had lost connection to a lot of the Everglades women.”
She wanted to win them back. She was confident that the women, the school and current students could all benefit from a REconnection. She helped form the brand-new Everglades Steering Committee, which includes 16 women from the Classes of ’62 through 1976. That group has met with Head of School Rachel Rodriguez and partnered with a student-run club, Women Empowerment, to explore Everglades history and traditions and create meaningful collaborations and mentorships for girls at RE. It was important to Morgenstern, and other founding members, that the committee be sustainable – that its work continue beyond the lifespans of its Everglades founders.
The newly formed connection between the steering committee and the club led to two upper school assemblies celebrating the history of the Everglades School for Girls. It also provided a vehicle for – what else? – a job opportunity. After a conference call between members of Women Empowerment and the Everglades Steering Committee, steering committee member Laurinda Spear ’68, the founder of the international architecture firm Arquitectonica, hired club president Maggie Seabrook ’24 as a landscape architect summer intern, and she also separately took on Mia Williamson ’20, Willamson’s daughter. “We should have a connection to the women on campus,” Spear said. “That’s our mission, I would say.”
Said Seabrook, who graduates this spring: “It’s a great system and a great opportunity that RE provides. It’s rare for most high schools to give their students and alumni these chances, and everyone should take advantage of this amazing network of people.”
To submit a job or internship for REconnect, please visit this form: bit.ly/REconnect-jobs
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2045 South Bayshore Drive, Coconut Grove, FL 33133Phone: 305 250 6850
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Founded in 1903, Ransom Everglades School is a coeducational, college preparatory day school for grades 6 - 12 located on two campuses in Coconut Grove, Florida. Ransom Everglades School produces graduates who "believe that they are in the world not so much for what they can get out of it as for what they can put into it." The school provides rigorous college preparation that promotes the student's sense of identity, community, personal integrity and values for a productive and satisfying life, and prepares the student to lead and to contribute to society.