When Peter Stebbins ’52 reflects on his four years at Lake Forest Academy, he fondly remembers his time spent on the basketball court. But he also recalls how the daily structure of LFA prepared him for life by giving him an opportunity to learn and by teaching him how to study.
Alumni Profiles
Jim C. Cowart ’69 grew up in the heart of the Texas Panhandle in a tiny desert town called Canyon. When Jim was 16 years old, he read John Knowles’ “A Separate Peace” and decided he wanted to attend boarding school.
The Reverend Christopher Moore knew a good soprano when he heard one. The founder and director of the Chicago Children’s Choir, Moore approached Bancroft later that morning and invited him to join the prestigious youth choir, an invitation that would lead him to Lake Forest Academy.
Unity Johnson Dienes ’90 calls her experience as a student at Lake Forest Academy “a huge win” in her life.
Gabe Llanas ’96 first felt the pull to become a writer during his sophomore year at LFA. He recalls reading his classmates’ narratives and recognizing they were better than his. “It woke me up to what was possible, and it gave me an appreciation for good writing.”
Growing up in rural Kane County in northern Illinois, Mike Petersen '96 had no intention of enrolling in boarding school.
When an admissions representative from LFA reached out, Mike was baffled by the school’s interest. He was just a small town boy with good PSAT scores. Why was an elite institution like LFA interested in him?
One of Eric Brown '98’s most memorable experiences at LFA happened in the Chapel on his first day of high school. The student community had gathered for an all-school meeting. LFA Principal Bondy Hodgkins P’82, P’85, GP’19 addressed the assembly.
“She said every single one of us in the room would be going to college, that we would be leaders,” says Eric.
“LFA opened up a whole other world to me about what you could study,” Sarah Drewniak Wennik '98 says. “It helped my world to get bigger and bigger, and it exposed me to different ideas.”
When Duane Jackson ’01 was a boy cutting lawns on Chicago’s South Side, he never dreamed a private school education was in the cards. A chance encounter with a family friend, who handed Duane’s mom a catalog of top boarding schools, led him to consider going away for high school.
It’s pretty hard to finish one another’s sentences when living 4,321 miles apart, but Dr. Hussein Musa ’01 and Dr. Shamsideen Musa ’01 still manage. After all, the Lake Forest Academy alumni have had a lot of practice.
Attending Lake Forest Academy taught Margeaux McReynolds ’02 the importance of asking others for help.
In college, she had no qualms about approaching her professors for extra help. Even at a new job, Margeaux asks questions. “Seeking help from others is something I learned from LFA,” she says.
Diamond Weathersby ’02 knew she wanted to go to boarding school from the moment a teacher at her local public school on the South Side of Chicago mentioned it to her in third grade.
Accompanying the subpar grade on her first progress report, Lake Forest Academy English teacher Dr. Ray Bird noted that she wouldn’t participate in class and that, until she did, her grade would continue to be substandard.
Those who know Mghnon Martin ’05 understand nothing about her is substandard.
Ask Liz Peinado ’08 about her freshman year at LFA, and she’ll tell you she was apprehensive, that she didn’t fit in. Now ask Liz about her senior year at the Academy, and you’ll hear a different story, that of a girl who rebounded and persevered, who recognized that her LFA experience would change her life...
Spending a few moments listening to or reading the story of Lake Forest Academy alumnus Ronald Sutton ’08 leaves the listener, the reader better for the experience.
When Eric Bauer ’12’s friends from public high school heard he was going away to boarding school, they thought one of two things: Either his parents didn’t love him or he’d done something bad.
Eric and his mom had a different take: It was about opportunity.
How can one person simultaneously feel anxiety and calm? Sadness and joy? Isolation and belonging? Yes, for some, perhaps many, coming of age is fraught with paradox. This is the truth of Miriam Fraga ’14, whose disparate experiences during her high school years at Lake Forest Academy serve as a cumulative illustration of diversity’s role in a more perfect Academy and a more pluralistic society.