Greetings!
As we approach the end of the calendar year, I'd like to thank you for your support and enthusiasm for the Academy. It is a privilege to work with so many committed and engaged alumni. I hope we can all get together soon in person. I miss my alumni travels and interacting with all of you!
We have some great virtual events planned for after the new year. You will not want to miss our entertainment panel in February, which will showcase the expertise and talents of our many alumni who work in the fields of film, TV, theater, and music. The arts have sustained us during the pandemic. Let's gather online to learn more about the people in our alumni community who make the magic happen!
Finally, as the calendar year comes to a close, we hope you will support the Academy Fund. Our goal this year is $1.6 million (with $783,934 in commitments made thus far--thank you!). The added costs of keeping the campus safe during COVID, combined with the loss of ancillary income from our normally robust wedding business, create a more urgent need than ever for alumni support of the school. Thank you for helping your alma mater during this challenging year. We are grateful to each and every one of you.
Wishing you a happy and healthy 2021.
Ruth Keyso
Director of Alumni Engagement
847.615.3268 (office)
847.224.6072 (cell)
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Three Faculty Named to Prestigious Endowed Chair Posts
Head of School José M. De Jesús P'22 and Dean of Faculty Tom Johnson are pleased to announce the appointment of three faculty members to endowed chairs at Lake Forest Academy. The two chairs in the humanities and a third for science are announced and celebrated at the November Cornerstone Society gathering on campus. However, COVID-19 restrictions necessitated postponement of the event to a tentative date of June 2, 2021. Read more about our new faculty chairs here.
(l to r): Fine & Performing Arts and Modern & Classical Languages teacher Yue Chen, A. John Huss Jr. '58 and Ruth S. Huss Chair in the Humanities; History & Social Science teacher Matt Vaughn, Ned and Lynn Jessen Chair in the Humanities; and Science Department chair and teacher Debbie Witmer, Edmund J. Rendtorff Chair in Science.
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Moving Day
Thank you to all alumni who supported our $1.8 million Gala project and helped the Academy add four new faculty apartments to Atlass Hall. Our faculty families started moving into the three-bedroom apartments on Dec. 11.
Residential faculty are an integral part of boarding school life. By investing in additional faculty housing, the Academy is helping to attract and retain the best faculty to the school. Thank you for assisting us with this goal. Here is a glimpse of the interiors.
It's not too late to make a gift in support of this effort. Naming opportunities are available. For more information, contact Rob Buckla, vice president of advancement, at rbuckla@lfanet.org or 847.615.3276.
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Scholarship Support from Sodexo
LFA Head of School José M. De Jesús P'22 recently accepted a gift to LFA's Academy Fund from campus partner, Sodexo, the Academy’s contract partner for food service, catering, and campus maintenance.
Sodexo has established an annual need-based scholarship at LFA This gift will support student financial aid for the 2020-21 year. The Sodexo scholarship is part of $6.3 million in financial aid that was awarded to students and families this school year. LFA is grateful to Sodexo for its help in making the Academy accessible to students regardless of their financial circumstances.
Pictured in the photo above (l to r): LFA Chief Financial Officer Mike Reidy P'17; Sodexo District Manager Aaron Wagner; Head of School José M. De Jesús P'22; Director of Facilities Kevin Von Bergen; General Manager, Dining Service Angelica Garcia De Baez; and General Manager, Catering and Special Events Christine Gaither.
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LFA Robotics Club Meets with Founder Alex Pankhurst '12
On Dec. 7, the Robotics Club at LFA, under the direction of science teacher Mike Rogan, met up with young alumnus Alex Pankhurst '12 on Zoom. Alex talked to the team about his career at a start-up, Takeoff Technologies in Boston, where he applies his robotics knowledge to create robotic warehouses for supermarkets.
During his years as a boarder at LFA, Alex founded the school's robotics club. The club is still going strong and competes annually. Thank you, Alex, for sharing your knowledge and memories with our students. Go, Caxys!
Pictured are, top row l to r: Tobjorn "Toby" Nelson '24, Director of Alumni Engagement Ruth Keyso, Alex Pankhurst '12, Cindy Nguyen '23; middle row, l to r: Julia Plambeck '23, Science Teacher Mike Rogan, Ezzat Suhaime '22, Michael Xing '23; bottom row, l to r: Conor Fryer '21, Emily Hawkins '21, Adrian Helmerci '22, Brian Botero '23.
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Virtual YA Coffee: Classes of 2016-2020
Thank you to the many alumni in the classes of 2016-2020 who have already signed up for the Virtual Young Alumni Coffee, which will take place on Tues., Jan. 5, 2021, at 11 a.m. CST.
- Register
- You will receive a Starbucks ecard
- Log onto Zoom on Jan. 5 at 11 a.m. CST
- Be part of our live drawing to win some prizes!
Deadline: Dec. 18. Register here.
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Josh Rothstein Young Alumni-Student Networking Night
We look forward to bringing our students and young alumni together for a night of virtual networking on Feb. 11 at the 7th annual Young Alumni Networking Night, which was rebranded last year as the Josh Rothstein Young Alumni-Student Networking Night. This year's alumni professionals include the following:
Drew Walgreen '04, Senior Attorney at Weltman, Weinberg & Reis Co., L.P.A.,
Chicago
Asona Lui '05, Resident Physician at UC San Diego Department of Radiation Medicine
Andrew Duckworth '08, VP of Business Development at Ambra Health, NYC
Anneika "Nike" Patterson '08, FinTech Partnerships at Ocrolus, NYC
Vivian Chung '12, Account Supervisor at CBD Marketing, Chicago
Jordan Wolff '15, Program Manager at Microsoft, Seattle, WA
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Top row, left to right: Vivian Chung '12 and Andrew Duckworth '08
Middle row: Asona Lui '05 and Anneika "Nike" Patterson '08
Bottom row: Drew Walgreen '04 and Jordan Wolff '15
The alumni represent the following colleges and universities: Harvard, Stanford, Duke, Claremont-McKenna, Michigan, Wash U St. Louis, University of Kansas Medical Center.
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Live from the Third Coast: LFA in the Entertainment Industry
LFA will host a two-night virtual event focused on the entertainment industry and the LFA alumni who make the magic happen in the worlds of TV, film, theater, and music. Each session will take place in the evening via Zoom and will be hosted by alumni panelists. We will discuss the projects folks are working on; how they got into the business; how COVID has affected the entertainment industry; what measures the industry is taking to re-invent itself; how to network; how to understand the business of show business; and what the arts look like post-pandemic.
Thank you to alumni Jay Chandrasekhar '86, Jason Delane Lee '90, Marissa Ford '07, Doug Kaplan '07, Luma Khatib '97, David Lin '11, Gabe Llanas '96, Rachel Maguire '85, and Kelly Perine '87, for assisting LFA and sharing their knowledge and expertise with fellow alumni.
Click here to read the panelists' bios and to see the full slate of panelists for both nights. Watch your email for additional details. The events will take place online via Zoom on Feb 24 and 25, at 7:30 p.m. CT (5:30 p.m. PT, 8:30 p.m. ET) each night. Questions? Contact Ruth Keyso at rkeyso@lfanet.org.
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caption for photo above: Night 1 Panelists: top left: Jason Delane Lee '90; center: Gabe Llanas '96 (co-host), top right: Kelly Perine '87; bottom left: Jay Chandrasekhar '86 as Thorny from Super Troopers; bottom right: Rachel Maguire '85
caption for photo below: Night 2 Panelists: top l to r: Jason Delane Lee '90 and David Lin '11; bottom, l to r: Marissa Ford '07 and Doug Kaplan '07
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Academy Fund and End-of-Year Giving Ideas
The end of the calendar year is the most popular time to make charitable gifts to the causes you care about. As an independent school, LFA is a not-for-profit organization that relies on charitable contributions to support its students and teachers. Go to lfanet.org/give before December 31 to make your impact at LFA in 2020.
If you have appreciated securities that have been held for at least one year, you can gift the securities instead of cash and save on your taxes. By gifting appreciated securities, you avoid paying capital gains tax on the appreciated value. You can then use the cash you would have otherwise used for your gift to repurchase the securities (or different stocks) and realize a stepped-up basis. For these and other ideas on tax-wise charitable giving, visit lfa.givingplan.net.
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Caxology and Gratitude
We're delighted to share with you the final episode for this year of our new podcast Caxology, brought to you by LFA’s Richards & Tremain Society and hosted by Garry Sloan, LFA’s Director of Individual Philanthropy. This episode focuses on gratitude and features the voices of current students and parents. It's an episode from the heart, and we hope you enjoy it.
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"Welcome" Back... Soon!
We can’t wait to welcome you back to campus for Alumni Weekend & Reunion 2021, September 24-26, 2021!
After hosting our 2020 festivities virtually, we know many are excited to be able to come together. All alumni are invited, and it will be a special year of celebrating two milestone cycles at the same time: members of classes that end in 0, 1, 5, and 6.
Save the Dates: September 24-26, 2021
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In the Market for a Jersey?
Alumni, if you are interested in purchasing an LFA jersey from past seasons, our Athletics Department has a bunch for sale on this site. Browse through the catalog here. Each jersey is $20.
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