Gala 2022
Thank you to all of our Sponsors and Patrons for helping to make this event a success!
Thank you to our Gala Co-Chairs
Karin and Nick Fink, P’22, ’23
David ’91 and Avery Keller P’25
Congratulations to our Live Auction Winners!
Molly Pearson Campbell ’04, Emily Sammon ’91 and Allan Kaplan ’72, P’03
Presenting Sponsor
Premier Patron
Dr. N. Ram Saladi & Indira Saladi P’22
Sponsors
Patrons
Andy & Amy
Farbman P’22, ’24
Erik & Stephanie
Gast P’25
Kevin & Rita
Powers P’22
Kasturi & Prachi Rangan P’24
Thomas ’78 & Maria
Wood P’23, ’24
Owen Xing &
Jessica Wang P’24
About the Gala Project
- Future Health Center
- Health, Wellness, and Community
- Testimonials
- Naming Opportunities
- Make a Gift
- Frequently Asked Questions
Future Health Center
Lake Forest Academy has announced plans to re-purpose 4,500 square feet of space on the lower level of New Hall to relocate and expand the school’s Health Center. The $1.4 million project* will allow the Academy to move the Health Center from its current location on the second floor of Reid Hall to a more physically-accessible space and expand care services. The school’s Board of Trustees approved the plan and announced a fundraising campaign, culminating with Gala 2022, to underwrite the new comprehensive Health Center.
“This project will allow LFA to fulfill our vision of housing under one roof expanded physical and psychological health services for students, faculty and staff. With the recent expansion of nursing and counseling staff, this is a logical step to provide the necessary space to accommodate a comprehensive on-campus health center that will serve day and boarding students as well as residential faculty and staff and their families,” said Director of Health Services Anna Kliner, MSN, RN, FNP-C, who was appointed to the post in the summer of 2020.
This major commitment to the LFA community symbolizes the importance of health and well-being as important factors in ensuring the educational and personal success of adolescents and those in service to them at the Academy.
The new Health Center will achieve the following:
- Provide modern, accessible, spacious facilities and equipment for LFA’s Health Services team to serve the physical and psychological health needs of the entire community, as expected of a Top 20 American boarding school and the #1 best boarding high school in Illinois.
- Provide students from 40 countries and 15 states with 24 hour a day/seven day a week services and care.
- Create examination rooms where LFA community members may receive evaluation and treatment for routine and episodic health needs.
- Create designated overnight care space for sick students and health center staff who monitor them.
- Designate secure space to dispense prescription drugs, medications, and other therapies for students.
- Create an on-campus laboratory instead of taking students off-campus for testing.
- Provide private space for psychological evaluation and treatment.
- Provide space for group therapy sessions and/or Health, Wellness and Community academic programming.
- Create flexible use space for increasingly-popular telehealth visits with medical and psychological specialists. Currently, more than 40 students a year engage in telehealth services on campus.
- Create new and more spacious offices for Health Services and Counseling staff.
- Re-equip the Health Center with sterile space for minor procedures; the current health center does not have sterile procedure space.
- Construct an outdoor garden, adjacent to the Health Center, for relaxation, reflection, therapy, and meditation .
- Provide two additional gender neutral restroom on campus.
- Accommodate possible expansion of services which may include treatment space for collaboration with specialists including but not limited to dermatology, psychology, gynecology and sports medicine.
- Allow the Academy to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act by providing a more physically-accessible health services space.
- Relocation of the Health Center will free up space in Reid Hall for other student-centered purposes.
- Position the Academy as a leader that uses modern best practices and those practices learned via response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Background
- Changes from 2020
- Health Center Usage by LFA Day and Boarding Students
- COVID-19 and Student Mental Health
- A True School-Based Health Center at LFA
- Key Project Participants
Changes from 2020
Director of Health Services Anna Kliner, MSN, RN (right) with student in health center exam room
Since 2020, Lake Forest Academy has worked to improve on-campus health care accelerated, in part, due to the effects of the COVID-19 global pandemic. Director of Health Services Anna Kliner, MSN, RN was recruited to the Academy in August 2020, and is leading a collaborative approach to maintaining student health, allowing the school to remain open to in-person classes with residential programming. During Kliner’s time, the department expanded services to include 24-hour nursing care and on-site support for overnight care. Currently, members of the Health Services team include the director (who is a nurse practitioner), two full-time nurses, four overnight and weekend nurses and two licensed therapists. LFA’s commitment to the health of the entire community is evident in the interdisciplinary coordination of physical and behavioral health services; integration of health, wellness and community into all four years of the academic curriculum; and strategic plans for the growth of the Health Services department which includes the new Health Center.
Health Center Usage by LFA Day and Boarding Students
Current health services center location on the second floor of Reid Hall
The current on-campus health services center is located above the school’s catering kitchen on the second floor of Reid Hall. The student needs and services offered are no longer accommodated in the current physical location. In addition, accessibility (there is no elevator access to this space) is a severe challenge for anyone with restricted mobility. For many students—both boarding and day—the new Health Center will be able to serve as a comforting, caring, safe space, where they have confidence that there is always a dedicated, professional adult available to them.
In the first semester of the 2021-22 school year, LFA nurses recorded 2,600 unique, non-mental health, visits from students. Currently, an average of 29 students visit daily the current health facility on the second floor of Reid Hall. This daily total is evenly distributed between day and boarding students. In addition, nurses have served 50 faculty or staff members seeking care.
In addition, nurses accompany students to off-campus medical appointments.
Two on-campus therapists see between 6-10 students per day. These appointments range from students who just need to talk to those in crisis. The pandemic is seen as a significant factor in the number of students who are pushed to crisis.
COVID-19 and Student Mental Health
Student discussion with School Counselor Nirali Dalia, MS, LCPC (right)
One of the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on students at LFA during the re-opening of school is loneliness, particularly for new students. Students are struggling to make social connections while observing social distancing, mask-wearing and a reduction in athletic team sport activity (due to State of Illinois regulations). The interruption of some of the protective influence of social connection, team sports and other co-curricular programming is felt deeply by an already vulnerable population.
Adolescence is often a time when socializing is particularly challenging, add a pandemic and students can feel very alone. LFA advisors are working to help to foster connections by building strong and supportive relationships within advisory sessions. Advisors are promoting the wellness of all students by ensuring that they feel safe and supported physically, socially, emotionally and academically. Social, emotional and self-regulation skills are being taught. While these foundational supports are crucial, there is a unique opportunity to concurrently strengthen the scaffolding of a more robust and formalized health and wellness program to support our students as they grow. This program would focus on utilizing best clinical practices in both medical services with optimal and holistic wellbeing of LFA’s student population while at school and as they move into adulthood.
A True School-Based Health Center at LFA
(left to right) Anna Kliner, MSN, RN, Jennifer Madeley, MSW, LCSW, Nirali Dalia, MS, LCPC
Getting health care for high school students can be complicated. Many medical providers only offer appointments during the school day, and their offices might be far from Lake Forest Academy and require transportation. To see their providers, students miss school and parents must often leave work — which isn't always an option.
School-based health centers make accessing care as easy as a walk across campus. Staffed by medical providers, nurses and licensed therapists, school-based health centers provide a range of services to meet student health care needs. Services can include exams, annual physicals, prescriptions, counseling, and regular visits for students with asthma and diabetes, etc.
Director of Health Services Anna Kliner, a nurse practitioner, works closely with the school’s counseling team, to enhance mental health programs and intervention. Health Services also coordinates closely with the Athletic Training office to ensure adequate care for student athletes. Addendum Two offers an overview of LFA’s health and wellness program by class year.
Key Project Participants
Health, Wellness, and Community
Q & A with LFA Director of Health Services Anna Kliner, MSN, RN
Anna Kliner joined the Academy in the summer of 2020 and oversees the school’s health programs. She is also a member of the Deans Council, the school’s administrative team. Along with three additional nurses and a consulting epidemiologist, Kliner has a valuable resource in the Academy’s efforts to keep the campus safe during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond.
A nurse practitioner, Kliner formerly worked at Erie Family Health Center in Waukegan, NorthShore University Health System in Highland Park and PCC Community Wellness Center in Chicago. The majority of her career has been working with underserved communities at Federally Qualified Health Centers in Chicago and Lake County. Kliner holds a bachelor’s degree from Kenyon College in Ohio and a Master of Science degree in nursing from the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC). Before becoming a nurse, she was a kindergarten and first grade teacher in Chicago and Los Angeles.
What brought you to LFA?
My first APN position was in a school-based health center inside a Chicago Public School. I had hoped to return to that setting at some point. I love working with the adolescent population. Kids have all of the agency of adults but need guidance with decision-making; the consequences of their decisions are significant, but the judgment to make those decisions is a wonderful place for intervention by caring adults. I want to collaborate with kids to help set them up for lifelong healthy behavior.
What are the biggest challenges of overseeing a health program for a school like LFA?
I’m fortunate to have been brought on at a time when health is first and foremost in people’s minds. The challenge I see is, things have not been done this way before. But that makes it exciting—there are great opportunities for growth and collaboration. I’ve had to act quickly with the COVID-19 intervention, but in terms of the other facets of the health services inside of LFA, I plan to spend a lot of time this year just listening, and learning how things are done.
What measures did LFA introduce to keep the campus community safe during the pandemic?
Adhering to the things known to reduce the spread of COVID and mitigate risk: social distancing, masking, hand hygiene, minimizing close, prolonged exposure. Strategies for staying as safe as possible are not mysterious but their implementation requires repeated education and behavioral change. It has been a privilege being on the ground here and answering people’s questions and troubleshooting problems as we navigate this new reality together.
What has been the most rewarding part of the job so far?
It’s two-pronged: first, beginning to get to know the students and faculty; and, second, getting to work with smart people who approach problems in a multi-faceted way. If I ask someone a question, they think about the answer; they don’t just give an easy response.
Anna Kliner grew up in Chicago’s Lincoln Park neighborhood and attended elementary and high school at Francis W. Parker School, an independent school in the City of Chicago. She lives with her husband, Christopher, and their children, Maggie and Charlie, in Highland Park. She enjoys laughing, reading, being outside and traveling.
The Health, Wellness & Community Program at Lake Forest Academy provides opportunities to guide each student in the development of insight about community, participation, leadership, wellness, and self. By focusing on a central question each year and utilizing The Search Institute’s Asset-Building as a foundation, students have the opportunity to further the depth of insight about themselves, their place at LFA, and their place in the world. These questions all lead into the cultivation of character, scholarship, citizenship, and responsibility.
Below is a school year by school year description of the program:
- The primary focus of Freshman Health, Wellness & Community is...
- In the fall, Sophomore Health, Wellness & Community is an extension...
- Junior Health, Wellness & Community encourages students to...
- Senior Health, Wellness & Community focuses on...
The primary focus of Freshman Health, Wellness & Community is...
The primary focus of Freshman Health, Wellness & Community is the transition and adjustment to the Academy by encouraging students to consider what it means to be part of the Lake Forest Academy community. Strategies for a successful transition and adjustment, both academically and socially, are explored. School rules and expectations are reviewed, centering on the four pillars of Lake Forest Academy’s mission statement. Emphasis is placed on study skills, public speaking, time management, iPad instruction (including online resources and databases), and exam preparation. Students also look at the importance of multiculturalism and pluralism within our diverse student community. They discuss the idea of what makes up identity, and then each student creates a multimedia presentation that expresses what they view as being the most important parts of who they are. With regard to wellness, an emphasis is placed on physical health. Students receive information on nutrition and exercise, first aid, life balance, stress management, conflict resolution, effective communication, substance use prevention, and relationship education. Through this survey of topics, students identify personal strengths and areas of growth needed to successfully engage in all aspects of the LFA community.
In the fall, Sophomore Health, Wellness & Community is an extension...
In the fall, Sophomore Health, Wellness & Community is an extension of Lake Forest Academy’s Service Learning Program. Through the exploration of current social issues in conjunction with students’ personal service engagement experiences, students are encouraged to determine how their own personal values and beliefs can make a difference in the world around them. Starting in January, students are required to collaborate and launch a service project, then reflect upon the experience of engaging in the community. At the end of the second term students learn how to protect and enhance their digital footprint and become better cyber citizens. They meet with law enforcement officers, college counselors, communication and IT specialists to prepare them for online risks and benefits as they become more and more visible to universities and employers on social networks.
Junior Health, Wellness & Community encourages students to...
Junior Health, Wellness & Community encourages students to explore individual values, beliefs, perceptions, and interpretations. Class discussions focus on personal experiences and reflections that foster greater connectedness, communication of own perspective, and standing up for beliefs/values/etc. Students explore diversity and multiculturalism and how these concepts relate to who we are as individuals, with an underlying focus on civic responsibility, leadership, and community-building. Students are also introduced to the complexities of human behavior through topics such Addiction, Eating Disorders, Mental Health and Brain Disorders, Suicide Prevention, and the Myers-Brigg Personality Assessment. Students examine their fears, values, goals, and priorities through reflections and class discussions. Periodically, students work with the Office of College Counseling to prepare for College Night in September, the LFA College Workshop in the second semester, ongoing testing options, and commencement of the college search and application process.
Senior Health, Wellness & Community focuses on...
Senior Health, Wellness & Community focuses on the college application process (first semester) and life after LFA (second semester) as we continue with efforts to cultivate mind, body, and spirit to develop moral and ethical thoughtfulness, nuanced social consciousness and leadership skills. Students receive general information about the college search, application, and decision-making processes. Topics include campus visits, essay writing, recommendation procedures, standardized testing, interviews and LFA College Counseling protocol. Each student also completes individual career exploration exercises and activities. The class also addresses specific issues involving the transition to college, including time management, academic policies, social pressures, and older adolescent health information. Students continue to explore the integration of personal values and beliefs with personal choice, goal-setting, and goal actualization, with emphasis on skills necessary for responsibly managing greater independence. Senior year culminates with a final project presented to members of the community to wrap up the high school sojourn.
Testimonials
A Message from the Gala Co-Chairs:
We are honored and excited to lend our support as the co-chairs of LFA Gala 2022, the signature fundraising and recognition event that benefits the new comprehensive LFA Health Center. In the coming weeks you’ll hear more about this impactful $1.4 million project to renovate 4,500 square feet of the garden level of New Hall.
The center will combine physical and psychological health care under one roof, expand overnight care space, create a medical laboratory, and introduce a therapeutic outdoor wellness garden.
If you haven’t already, please mark your calendars for Saturday, April 30 with cocktails starting at 6:00 p.m. Our community will come together on campus for an evening of celebration and unite together to reach our fundraising goals–including a curated live auction featuring a luxurious Bahamas vacation.
Most of all, we’ll be part of taking proactive steps to enhance the culture of care for our children and generations of Caxys to come.
Karin and Nick Fink P’22,’23 & David ’91 and Avery Keller P’25
Messages from the Community
Moving into a new space specifically designed to integrate our behavioral and medical health services is a game-changer for LFA's ability to service the mental health of our community. Three hallmarks of mental health treatment are access, comfort, and confidentiality. It's nearly impossible in our current setup to provide these to the extent that our clients need. I fully expect transitioning to the new Health Care Center will have a profound positive effect on every constituency we serve. New space will also lead to new therapeutic modalities including groups and utilization of more accessible outdoor space.Jennifer Madeley, MSW, LCSW, P’11, ’14
I remember the difficulties that high school presented, and oftentimes our mental health was not taken into consideration. As we now know, mental health is an extremely important part of our lives and one that needs to be nurtured and prioritized. During high school years, we are being molded into the wonderful people we will eventually become, and during such turbulent times as the COVID-19 pandemic, so many people’s mental health is suffering. So why wouldn’t we want to provide services for our children? The LFA Health Center will do just that. It will break the mold of “just burying it” or “sweeping it under the rug” and put mental and physical health at the forefront, improving the lives of the next generation for years to come.Harrison P. Crown, LCSW, LAC, ’07
When my two daughters were LFA students, there was never a time when they were not surrounded by their advisors, teachers, coaches and nurses, who went above and beyond their primary roles to get to know them and foster relationships that would last beyond the doors of LFA. As a nurse, now working at LFA, I have the opportunity to promote this important culture of care.
By investing in the construction of a new health center of this magnitude, Lake Forest Academy clearly indicates that it is committed to promoting an environment where physical and mental well-being are a top priority. The academic and athletic performance of our students will assuredly benefit greatly by having a safe, private, and accessible space to promote the health of the mind and body, all overseen by the people who love and care ardently for our children.Beth Olinger, RN, P’13, ’19
When I first attended LFA in 2014, one of the aspects that I noticed right away was how tightly-knit the community was. Whenever I (or one of my classmates) faced either academic or health issues, other students and faculty would rally together to help provide a strong network of support. Even years after graduating, I see the same tradition of caring through my younger sister’s experiences at LFA and every time I come back to visit campus.
I think the new Health Center is important in that it provides a safe space that is specifically dedicated to mental and physical health. It shows that the Academy is focused on providing student services beyond the scope of academic support—treating students holistically—and is proactively thinking about the long-term well-being of the community. Ananta Srivastava ’18 is a neuroscience major at Johns Hopkins University and plans to pursue a degree in medicine.
One of LFA's greatest strengths is that the students know there are faculty/staff who deeply care about their well-being. When you step on campus that feeling is palpable. For our family, that experience began 16 years ago when twins, Connor and Kevin (class of 2010), came to the Academy.
Our daughter Sophie (class of 2022), plays on the LFA soccer team but has been injured on the field several times. What’s comforting as a parent is that in those scary moments, the athletic trainers were right there ready to help her. There is a camaraderie with the students and a culture of care. This is exactly why the new Health Center is so important—students will know there is a comfortable, welcoming, safe place to easily seek out physical and mental help.
We are saying, “The health of the students matters!” Parents can rest easy knowing there are readily accessible resources available to their children at school, where they are spending most of their time. Colleen Berto P’10, ’10, ’22
The nursing staff and health services team are the athletic trainers’ best friends when it comes to the treatment and care of our student-athletes. Without them, we would not be nearly as effective in our job. During the academic day, late at night, and even on the weekends, our nursing staff does an incredible job of being the medical liaisons when we're not in the athletic training room. Our students can feel safe knowing that there is always someone to take care of them.
The larger, more central and accessible location of the new Health Center will be an enormous benefit for the care of our injured athletes. It will give us the space to do injury evaluations and treatments without having to go to the athletic training room across campus. The new Health Center promotes adolescent health and well-being and sets the foundation for each student's success and happiness. David Atas
When my kids attended LFA, they’d be walking into math class at 2:00 p.m. and it was 3:00 a.m. in Hong Kong, where I was working. To be sure, it’s never easy to be so far away. But knowing the nurturing they received from this magnificent faculty and the care available from LFA’s health services team helped me to rest much easier.Gregory Glass P’18, ’21
Naming Opportunities
Health Center Naming Opportunities
- New Hall Re-Naming: $1 million
(will provide for building maintenance and other upgrades) - Health Center (physical/psychological): $500,000
- Infirmary (physical health): $250,000 RESERVED
- Furnishings and Equipment: $150,000
- Wellness Garden: $100,000 RESERVED
- Group Gathering/Classroom: $100,000 RESERVED
- Entrance Lobby: $75,000 RESERVED
- Lounge: $75,000
- Lab: $75,000 RESERVED
- Student Resting/Overnight Room (2 RESERVED; 2 available): $50,000
- Staff Resting/Overnight Room: $50,000 RESERVED
- Mental Health Resting Room: $50,000 RESERVED
- Exam Room (1 RESERVED; 1 available): $50,000
- Health Center Director’s Office: $35,000 RESERVED
- Nurse and Counselor Office (4 RESERVED; 0 available): $25,000
Make a Gift
The Academy will re-purpose 4,500 square feet of the former Hutchinson Commons in New Hall to relocate Health Services from its current location in Reid Hall. The $1.4 million project greatly enhances the ability to serve effectively the health needs of both day and boarding students, faculty and staff. The new Health Center, to be located in more physically-accessible space, will combine physical and psychological health care under one roof; expand overnight space; allow for expansion of care services; and create a laboratory as well as an outdoor wellness garden. Funds raised will be used to help underwrite construction costs and establish a modest endowment for facility and maintenance.
Gala 2022 Donation Form
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What is the project cost?
The estimated cost for this project is $1.4 million to renovate space and furnish the health center. In addition, a modest facility endowment will be created to fund future equipment and facility maintenance.
Q: What is the timeframe for completion ?
The LFA Board of Trustees unanimously approved this space repurposing and renovation at its November 2021 meeting and further identified this project as the fundraising focus for the Academy’s annual Gala, to be held April 30, 2022. The renovation planning has begun with expected construction in the summer/fall of 2022.
Q: How will the money be raised to pay for this project?
Proceeds from the 2022 fundraising Gala in April will underwrite the Health Center. In addition, the Academy will seek major gifts totaling to fund the remainder of the project and, if feasible, establish an endowment for ongoing Health Center expenses.
Q: Will donors have an opportunity to name spaces in the new Health Center?
Yes. The entire health center and the building (New Hall) may be named for a donor or in honor or memory of a loved one. Additional naming opportunities include the Wellness Garden, exam rooms, lab, nurse offices, group space, etc. Please contact the LFA Advancement Department for more details.