Celebrating 20 Years of Grants!
The Lake Forest High School Foundation is delighted to celebrate our 20th Grant Day! This year, the Foundation will fund 11 new and 2 standing grants across 8 curricular areas valued at $196K, continuing our mission of investing in educational excellence. Since 2002 we have awarded over 300 grants valued at nearly $3 million in support of our school. Visit our website to learn more.
iPads for Art
Wellness Scooters
Turnkey Video Production
Good News at LFHS!
Grant Day was Friday, March 11, 2022. Our joy was perhaps even greater this year because we were able to congratulate the enthusiastic recipients in person! It was such a special morning, and we were grateful to be in the building to see students cheering on their teachers.We have a diverse slate of grants, each one focused on enriching student experiences with innovative technology and resources. We are in awe of the creativity our faculty showed in each grant request.
Please click below to see a video of the Foundation stepping into classrooms to award these grants!
Cat Catanzaro's Wellness for Life Class
Psychology Human Interface
Color Poster Printer for Business
Physics Laptops
Announcing the 2022 Grants . . .
iPad Lending Library

The Foundation is thrilled to partner with the Lake Forest-Lake Bluff Learning Differences Association to fund an iPad loan library for the Special Education department. These iPads will be available to students general education classes, co-taught classes, and to English Language Learners. These iPads can be integrated with a variety of assistive technology tools including text to speech, speech to text, word prediction, screen readers, easy zoom features, built in audiobooks and apps, augmentative and alternative communication devices, and switch-activated tools.

“Off the top of my head I can think of 20 fantastic things we will be able to do that we can’t do right now!”

David Hain,
Executive Functioning Tutor
Art iPads & Pencils

The Art Department will receive a set of iPads with Apple Pencils. All of the new machines will include Procreate software and glass screen protectors to augment the Drawing, Painting and AP Art curricula. As the world becomes more digital, students are increasingly looking for new technology across the disciplines. The art industry has already recognized the iPad as a fine art tool. While the Drawing and Painting students will still do many projects that use traditional materials, this will allow students to broaden their artistic toolbox. Nikki Stage, our Drawing and Painting teacher is an expert in this technology and will shepherd the students in the learning of his new tool. 

"Digital Art, here we come!"
Carolyn Bielski, Art Teacher
Poster Printer for Business

Laura Clegg and the Business Department will receive an Epson Sure Color Poster Printer. This printer will be an incredible resource across the business education classes from Business Entrepreneurship, to Marketing, Sports and Entertainment Management and Business Incubator. The printer allows students to print giant poster size displays for things such as product promotions for entrepreneurship, stadium designs for Sports and Entertainment Management and restaurant display projects for Marketing. With roughly 500 LFHS students enrolled in business classes, this type of resource allows students to carefully craft items such as marketing and promotional materials of the quality they will see in college and the business world.
Laptops for Physics

In partnership with District 115, the Foundation will fund 25 laptops for the Physics Department. Throughout the year, physics students do a variety of labs that use data acquisition software currently residing on desktop computers that are at least 10 years old. The computers are getting noisy, slow, and glitchy. The technology department can no longer put the latest version of Windows on them. The new laptops will increase the flexibility of lab configurations in the classrooms, they can be shared between classrooms, and can be used by students across the science departments. They can also be used with the PASCO interface boxes and Capstone software, funded by another of our 2022 grants!
Active Classroom for Wellness

Wellness for Life teacher Cat Catanzaro will create an active classroom, with the goals of inclusion, collaboration, increased movement, and connection. The Foundation will purchase furniture that allows students to move freely around the space and interact with all the members of the classroom rather than limiting interaction by proximity. This classroom configuration will benefit students who need accommodations, but will also give all students the opportunity to break up a day of sitting in traditional desks. This room redesign can be used by other classes and potentially used with specific students in the building that might need accommodations throughout the day.
Turn-Key Video Production

The Foundation will fund a complete video and audio setup that includes all necessary equipment for a one to four-person crew to easily set up a multi-camera live stream without installing power, video, and ethernet cables. This new system will allow the students to set up quickly and film while operating professional video and audio equipment.

Over the past two years, Steve Douglass, and Corey Holmer, New Media students, and Tech Crew have taken on the responsibility of live streaming and filming events. Some of the projects include Talent Show, TEDxLFHS, football games, music performances, Foundation Luncheon, Veterans Day, Graduation, Prom Red Carpet, and Pitch Night. Even though many of these events were successful and viewed, the students were forced to jerry-rig our setup using gear from different departments, previous Foundation Grants, and even renting camera accessories when needed. 

“This is professional level equipment. We don’t have to lay and tape wires, so it will save time and be much safer for everyone.”

Henry Thomas, LFHS Junio
Piano Amplification for Music

The Foundation is pleased that Applause will contribute toward funding this grant. The music department will acquire a piano microphone system for the grand piano, and an amplification system for the electronic keyboards. These amplification tools will be used by the many students in Band, Jazz Band, Orchestra, and Choir. They will enhance rehearsals and performances for these groups as well as the Talent Show, Spring Musical, and Graduation. They can also be used daily for music theory classes and recording projects. 
Scooters for Wellness

The Wellness Department will get a set of scooters that can be used for many physical activities. Teacher Mike Mizwicki is planning to have students use the scooters to play different types of games like soccer, hockey, and handball. Additionally, they can be used for fitness activities like relay races, abdominal and core strength training, and increasing flexibility. The Integrated Wellness class may use them weekly to increase students' balance, strength, and overall coordination. As a bonus, scooters provide students with a new or enhanced opportunity to have fun in their wellness classes. 
Human Interface for Psychology

Psychology teacher Andrew Waple was granted 14 Human-Human Interface devices for his unit on the brain. Human-Human Interface allows you to link two people together through harmless electrodes on their arms, and through an intermediate device, one person’s arm movement will cause the other person’s arm to move. The kids will learn that the body communicates partly through electrical signals. These devices will help enhance student understanding about the internal processes of the nervous system in ways that will benefit them in future biology and anatomy classes.
PASCO Interfaces

This grant covers the purchase of 6 PASCO 550 universal interface boxes and the related Capstone software. This will allow physics teachers to incorporate cutting-edge educational technology into the physics lab curriculum. With these devices students will do real-time analysis of motion, forces, electrical circuitry, magnetic fields, temperature, and other measurable quantities. This technology easily graphs the input from lab instruments, saving countless hours of manual labor and will allow students to have a deeper understanding of physical phenomena that shape the everyday world. 
Intelligent Moving Lights for the Theatre Department

The LFHS Foundation is excited to collaborate with PALS and the LFHS APT to purchase Intelligent Moving Lights for the Theatre Department. These lights are a great tool for lighting design for any stage production from concerts to plays, musicals and the Talent Show. Mary Toledano, LFHS's Technical Theater Director, selected equipment that can move remotely, change color, and be programmed to do all kinds of unique gestures and lighting effects. They are the standard used in professional theaters and will serve our students for well over a decade in both the RMA and the Little Theater. The technology is easy to learn and will provide the passionate Tech Crew students further opportunities to be creative and develop their skill sets. Additionally, these lights will expand the range of plays the department can produce. 

“These lights will allow us to showcase different parts of the theater. They also open up options for new and exciting shows because we can project objects we may not be able to build.”

Georgia Sottosanto-Sorenson,
LFHS Sophomore
2022 MVP Pitch Day
MVP Funding 2023
Standing Grant

This annual grant makes funding available to teams in the Business Incubator program to use for the Minimum Viable Product stage in the business development process. MVP is used to help determine the viability of their business idea and gain knowledge regarding possible alterations necessary to develop their product or service. All teams did their MVP Pitches on March 10. The judges provided feedback and funding allocations will be shared with the teams this week.
2022 MVP Pitch Day
We hope you will join us for our 12th annual spring luncheon on Friday, April 29th at the Knollwood Country Club! Even if you can't join us, our online auction is open to all starting April 22. Visit our event website for more information.

LFHS Foundation | lfhsfoundation.org