Lake Forest Academy
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| Lake Forest Academy | |
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Many heads, many hearts, and many hands.
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| Location | |
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| Lake Forest, Illinois, USA | |
| Information | |
| Religion | Nonsectarian |
| Head of School | Dr. John Strudwick |
| Enrollment |
370 students |
| Faculty | 60 teachers |
| Average class size | 12 students |
| Student:teacher ratio | 7:1 |
| Average SAT scores (2005) | 1590 |
| Type | Private boarding/day school |
| Campus | 168 acres |
| Athletics | 15 interscholastic sports teams |
| Mascot | Caxy |
| Color(s) | Black and orange |
| Established | 1857 |
| Homepage | lfanet.org |
Lake Forest Academy is a private boarding and day school for grades 9 through 12 located on the North Shore in Lake Forest, Illinois, United States.
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[edit] History
The Academy (known as "LFA") was founded in 1857 as a Presbyterian boys preparatory school. The Young Ladies' Seminary at Ferry Hall, later simplified to Ferry Hall School, was founded in 1869, and was considered a sister school. The schools proceeded with their separate missions until the early 1970s, at which point the schools began to coordinate their efforts. A merger of the schools to form the coeducational Lake Forest Academy-Ferry Hall School took place in 1974. Later, the school's name officially became Lake Forest Academy.[1]
[edit] Campus
Lake Forest Academy is situated on a wooded 140-acre (0.57 km²) campus, which includes a small lake. There are 25 buildings on campus, including Reid Hall (formerly the estate of Chicago meat entrepreneur J. Ogden Armour), Corbin Academic Center, Hutchinson Commons (the dining hall), four dormitories and several faculty housing buildings. The Cressy Center for the Arts (formerly the Fine & Performing Arts Center, or FPAC) is the site for all-school meetings, concerts and student theatrical productions.
LFA has a variety of athletic facilities, including an ice rink, swimming pool, gymnasium, tennis courts, all-weather track (new as of 2005), and five full-sized playing fields for football, field hockey, and soccer. Many of these facilities are in high demand in the Lake Forest area, and are therefore sometimes rented out to neighboring athletic organizations without locations for their sports.
Approximately half the faculty of Lake Forest Academy live on campus.
[edit] Dormitories
Lake Forest Academy houses its approximately 180 boarding students in four different campus dormitories. The dorms are single-sex and are of varying size.
[edit] Atlass Hall
Atlass is the newest dormitory by a margin of more than thirty years, and is consequently in the best physical condition of all the LFA dormitories. Located in the center of campus, it is closest to the academic buildings and dining hall. In addition to generously-sized rooms and new furniture, Atlass also sports a comfortable lounge area with a television, sofas, and pool table. Atlass is a two-story building that houses 70 boys and four faculty members in apartments on either north or south end of the dorm.
Atlass opened in January, 1999 following a grant from H. Leslie Atlass, Jr., class of 1936, in honor of his father (class of 1912).[2] According to the inscription on the dormitory, Atlass Sr. was a "broadcasting pioneer and innovator."[3] The financial gift was given with the condition that it be used to construct a new boys' dormitory, since Bates House, the previous boys' dormitory constructed in 1948, was in extremely poor condition.
[edit] Warner House
Warner House houses about 30 boys and five faculty members; four in the actual structure, and one family in the attached Remsen Cottage.[4] Warner is acknowledged to be the oldest structure on the Lake Forest Academy campus, thought in campus lore to have been a horse stable in the years before the Academy and J. Ogden Armour occupied the campus space. Upon the Academy's relocation to its current physical plant in 1948, the Board of Trustees dedicated the building to Ezra J. Warner, Jr., class of 1895.[5] Warner also holds the dubious distinction as being the farthest building from the main part of campus where the dining hall is located and where classes are held. Warner House was originally on the main road leading into the College, but this was changed when nearby housing developments were added in the 1990s.
[edit] Marshall Field House
Marshall Field House (or simply "Field") is the home to nearly all female boarding students, housing 69 out of 79 girls. Field is subject to many complaints: the dormitory has comparably poor facilities (such as bad heating and no air conditioning), and has been generally worn down since its first season of housing students in 1965.[6] However, Field House is the closest dorm to Hutchinson Commons: the dining area for the Lake Forest Academy residents.
Marshall Field House was named after Marshall Field, the founder of Marshall Field and Company, the Chicago-based chain of department stores. A substantial donation was made by Field to the Academy, and the Marshall Field House was dedicated to him on October 9, 1965.[7]
At present, Field is planned for major renovation as part of the Academy's expansion plans, as detailed in the Strategic Plan. According to the report, Field will be scaled down to house only 40 girls, and a second dormitory will be constructed to house 40 others.[8]
[edit] McIntosh Cottage
McIntosh Cottage (known simply as "Mac") is a unique dormitory, housing only ten girls in five rooms. In addition to the ten student residents, McIntosh houses two faculty members in apartments.[9] McIntosh was named for Arthur T. McIntosh, class of 1896, by his son.[10]
[edit] Athletics
The Academy is a member of the Chicago Independent School League and competes against eight other independent schools in Chicagoland. The following sports are offered:[11]
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Fall:
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Winter: |
Spring:
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Students at LFA may also partake in non-team P.E. activities such as weightlifting and yoga, as well as a winter/spring musical.
[edit] Mascot
The LFA mascot is the "Caxy," which is ancient Greek for "ribbet" - the croaking sound made by a frog. In the early 1900s, Aristophanes' hit comedy, The Frogs, was the subject of a popular Greek literature class.[12] LFA is believed to be the only school with "Caxys" as a nickname, although a popular athletic cheer at Yale University uses lines from the same Aristophanes play.[13]
[edit] Traditions
[edit] Move-Up Day
Move-Up Day began as a tradition at Ferry Hall in 1906, originally called Ivy Day, commemorating the annual planting of Ivy at the base of Smith Hall.[14] Over time, this tradition evolved into its current form, usually being held the day before Graduation. Departmental awards and speeches are given, and at the end of the ceremony, each class is invited to "move up" and literally take the place that they will occupy the next year: seniors move to sit with the alumni, juniors take the former spots of the seniors, and so on.
[edit] All-School Handshake
At the beginning of each year every student, faculty member, and administrator gathers in the formal gardens and participates in the all school handshake.[15] The entire school arranges themselves in a line around the periphery of the Formal Gardens and the Head of School begins by shaking the person's hand next to him. As he moves down the line the next person shakes his hand, and the next, and the next. The procession behind the Head Master snakes around until every member of the school shakes the hand of everyone else.
[edit] Field Day
Field Day also began at Ferry Hall, starting in the spring of 1903 with "classes competing in races, the high jump, and a five-pound shot put, among other events." Field Day eventually died out in the 1970s as a result of the merger between Ferry Hall and Lake Forest Academy.[16]
[edit] The House Cup
The House Cup Competition was established under Dean Colley Bell in 2004. The students are divided up into four houses (Lewis, Sargent, Welch, and Bird) and compete in various events throughout the year. The house with the most event points at the end of the year gets their name inscribed on a trophy that is located in Reid Hall, and the colors of their team are used in the student handbook cover for the following year.
[edit] Reputation
Lake Forest Academy is well-recognized as one of the strongest college preparatory schools in the Midwest. 100% of graduates attend a 4-year college or university, many attending Ivy League schools, "Little Ivies," and other respected colleges.[17]
One of the other oft-touted fundamental strengths of the school is the potential for strong relationships formed between students and faculty. Faculty, approximately half of whom live on campus, also serve as coaches and dorm supervisors. This aspect of the Academy is often promoted by the Admissions Department and others as a feature that sets the school apart from other institutions. Head of School Dr. John Strudwick mentions that "LFA prides itself on its small classes and its Advisory system which both promote a unique and productive relationship between faculty and students."[18]
[edit] Notable alumni/ae
- See also: Ferry Hall School for alumnae graduating prior to 1972.
- John Agar, actor
- Bill Ayers, political activist and professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago[19]
- David Bradley, film director
- Bix Beiderbecke, jazz cornet player (expelled; attended 1921-22)[20]
- Jay Chandrasekhar, film director and comedian[21]
- Edward Everett Nourse, theologian
- Kelly Perine class of 1987, actor[22]
- Bill Schulz, class of 1994, FOX News
[edit] Notes
- ^ About Us: History. Lake Forest Academy. Retrieved on 2007-01-01.
- ^ Atlass Hall, from the official website.
- ^ As referenced on the inscription outside Atlass Hall.
- ^ Warner House, from the official website.
- ^ As referenced on the inscription outside Warner House.
- ^ Field House, from the official website.
- ^ As referenced on the inscription outside Marshall Field House.
- ^ Strategic Plan. Lake Forest Academy (2003-05-03). Retrieved on 2007-01-01.
- ^ McIntosh Cottage, from the official website.
- ^ As referenced on the inscription outside McIntosh Cottage.
- ^ Team Pages. Lake Forest Academy. Retrieved on 2007-01-01.
- ^ A Caxy?. Lake Forest Academy Athletics. Retrieved on 2007-01-01.
- ^ Schiff, Judith Ann. "The Greatest College Cheer", Yale Alumni Magazine, May 1998. Retrieved on 2007-01-01.
- ^ Pridmore 102
- ^ News & Calendar. Lake Forest Academy (2007-08-27). Retrieved on 2008-01-17.
- ^ Pridmore 104
- ^ Review of Lake Forest Academy. Boarding School. Retrieved on 2006-03-16. “LFA graduates currently attend colleges throughout the country, including Harvard, Princeton, Brown, Duke, Dartmouth, Columbia, George Washington, Georgetown, Cornell, St. Andrew's-Scotland, Middlebury and Wesleyan, Northwestern, University of Chicago, UCLA, Williams, as well as many other excellent colleges and universities.”
- ^ A message from Head of School Dr. John Strudwick. Lake Forest Academy. Retrieved on 2007-01-01.
- ^ Leonard, John. "Looking for Mr. Goodbomb", The Nation, 2001-09-27. Retrieved on 2007-01-01.
- ^ Bix Beiderbecke. PBS. Retrieved on 2007-01-01.
- ^ Southern, Nathan. Jay Chandrasekhar. All Movie Guide. Retrieved on 2007-01-01.
- ^ 'Bye-Bye Birdie' Photograph, 1987. Digital Past. Retrieved on 2007-01-01.
[edit] References
- Pridmore, Jay; Megan C. McGuire '88, Martha Briggs (1994). in Anne Gendler: Many Hearts and Many Hands: The History of Ferry Hall and Lake Forest Academy, William A. Seabright, John A. Scrapes, Dan Grayson, Alan Shortall, Brookfield, Wisconsin: Burton and Mayer, 264. ISBN 0-9643350-0-X.
[edit] External links
