By Tess Uihlein The following talk was given by Senior Class President Tess Uihlein during the Lake Forest High School graduation this month. When telling people I was given the opportunity to write a graduation speech, I was typically met with wide eyes, quickly followed by unsolicited advice. My oldest brother Mac said, “As long as you don’t talk about the definition of a Scout.” The senior class president of 1988, Vince Vaughn, told me to make people laugh, but quickly

By Laurie Stein This year marks the 250th anniversary of the United States, or “Semiquincentennial” if you’re a lover of large words. Such a milestone provides a wonderful opportunity to look back and celebrate our history – and with a full slate of events on the docket in 2026, residents will have ample opportunity to do just that. With the anniversaries of our nation, our town, and our many longstanding institutions to commemorate, the annals of such a history-loving co

By Carol Summerfield From movies and television shows, we have all seen the hall or the stairway bedecked with dozens of paintings of different generations in gilded frames, in their place of honor on the wall of a stately home. These ancestral portrait collections have been a part of society -- particularly European high society -- for hundreds of years. That tradition of having portraits of the family patriarchs and matriarchs migrated with its people to the United States.

By David A. F. Sweet The City of Lake Forest tapped The Cotton Duck as its new food partner at Forest Park Beach. Co-founders Cecilia Lanyon and Dominic Zumpano, who are Lake Forest residents and long-time restaurateurs in the city, discussed what they plan to offer this summer. Why were you interested in running the Forest Park Beach concessions? I (Cecilia) grew up in Lake Forest, and summertime meant every day at the beach! We are so fortunate to have access to this gor

By Laurie Stein With America’s 250th birthday coming up in July, we turn our thoughts back to other milestone anniversaries in the history of our town. The year 1876 marked the Centennial of the Declaration of Independence, America’s “first birthday party” where the nation for the first time took stock of itself as something other than a newcomer on the world stage. The Farwell family celebrates America's Centennial 150 years ago. But Lake Forest itself in 1876 was still

By Liz Weithas In April, the Spirit of 67 Foundation awarded 30 grants totaling $145,905 to District 67 schools for the 2026-2027 school year. This allows Lake Forest children to enjoy incredible educational and cultural experiences that enrich their learning -- and also add a lot of fun to their school days. During Grant Week, volunteers from Spirit of 67 visited a different district school each day to announce their school’s awarded grants. At each school, they showcase

By David A. F. Sweet A Lake Forest Community High School student was frustrated with the 16th-century language of Romeo & Juliet. He struggled to relate to the Shakespearean tragedy involving teenage lovers. Peer Tutoring, which nurtures student-to-student sessions, helped bring understanding. “Everybody has big hearts,” says Elaine Metz about the Scout Buddies program, one of many where students help students. “The peer tutor told him, ‘You’re absolutely right,’ and got t

By David A. F. Sweet During this 50th anniversary year, no one would have been surprised had the Lake Forest Preservation Foundation (LFPF) quietly celebrated its many accomplishments and eschewed any new initiatives. But under Executive Director Jennifer McGregor, who replaced longtime leader Marcy Kerr in 2024, the foundation is charging forward with important work as it continues a decades-long collaboration with the City of Lake Forest that has helped preserve the commun

By David A. F. Sweet “Act well your part,” wrote essayist Alexander Pope in the 18th century. “There all the honor lies.” Acting well has never been a problem at Lake Forest Community High School, whose commitment to theater harkens to the school’s founding during the Great Depression. Today, students continue to carry out their roles with aplomb across an amazingly diverse selection of plays. Lake Forest High School depends on students to build sets for plays. Greek traged

By David Sweet and Alexa Moreno What started as a simple classroom idea is quickly becoming a meaningful solution for families across Lake Forest. Scout Your Sitter, a startup created by Lake Forest High School juniors Claire Maguire, Jenna Nagel, Andrew McIntyre, and Emma Engelberg, is rethinking how families connect with trusted babysitters, making the process faster, easier, and more reliable for everyone involved. Andrew McIntyre, Claire Maguire, Emma Engelberg and Jenna

By Carol Summerfield In the 1950s, the interpretation of the American lifestyle underwent a seismic shift that was felt both inside and outside the home. As World War II ended and the massive factory-based industries that supported it sought new ways to use their machinery and floor space, they turned to the new needs of the American home. The ease of producing aluminum, glass, and plastic materials opened myriad possibilities. The factories offered three important things to

By David A. F. Sweet In celebration of Ragdale’s 50th anniversary in 2026, Lake Forest Love is highlighting a few of the many prominent authors who have benefited from a residency at the campus off Green Bay Road. Jessamine Chan has enjoyed four residencies at Ragdale. Her debut novel, The School for Good Mothers, was a New York Times bestseller. It has been translated into about two dozen languages. Chan lives in Chicago with her family. How did you come up with the idea fo

By Carol Summerfield In case you’ve opted out of large words this year, it is the 250 th anniversary (the semiquincentennial) of the United States. Or, as it’s being branded by history museums across the U.S., America 250. Many of the historical societies and small local history museums in America began around our Bicentennial in 1976. With the 200 th anniversary, we realized there was enough history that collecting and preserving it was worth undertaking. (Lake Forest was

By David A. F. Sweet When a first-time visitor to Lake Forest heads north on McKinley Road, oftentimes he or she is stunned by the view outside the window. “That’s your high school?” is the typical comment when seeing what, to most eyes, looks like a mansion. The Lake Forest High School building was designed by Stanley D. Anderson and opened in 1935. Once deemed the prettiest high school in Illinois by Architectural Digest , the landmark Lake Forest High School building de

By Alexandra Moreno Last fall, something unique happened at Lake Forest College. At the Krebs Center for the Humanities, residents of Lake Forest gathered as participants to engage with one of the most transformative forces of our time: artificial intelligence (AI). Not your typical school building: The Krebs Center is a stunning spot to learn about AI. The four-week course, Artificial Intelligence and Everyday Life: Understanding, Engaging, and Applying AI in the Real World

By Laurie Stein Chicago's retail landscape transformed dramatically in the early 1900s. At the heart of it was the emergence of the department store, which provided a more efficient and appealing shopping experience by consolidating merchandise categories under one roof and offering more sizing options for clothing. No name loomed larger in this revolution than Chicago’s flagship department store Marshall Field & Co. With gleaming marble floors, soaring atriums, and iconic s

By Carol Summerfield After weathering the Great Depression and the austerity and rations of World War II, downtown Lake Forest was ready for a shopping bonanza. Decades of restrictions meant there was an incredible pent-up demand for shopping: residents sought out everything from new clothes to imported food to the new craze for midcentury home décor. Americans were ready to get their consumerism on. And they did. Local shopping districts like Market Square were ripe to benef

By David A. F. Sweet As a girl, Samantha Hiller loved playing hockey. At age 12, her mother said she could earn extra money by being a referee. More time on the ice sounded better to Hiller than being a babysitter. After officiating many youth games in Boulder, Colo., four years later Hiller departed her home state for a refereeing camp in Utah, where she could learn how to administer high-level games. “It’s something I’ve been dreaming of since I was 18," says Samantha Hill

In the earliest days of Lake Forest, clothes shopping meant buying bolts of cloth at James Anderson’s general store on Deerpath or stocking up on dry goods down in Chicago. Outfits were handsewn at home or designed by a custom dressmaker or tailor.

By Kayden Prieto Returning to Lake Forest High School as a class of 2007 alumnus, CBS Chicago reporter and 13-time Emmy Award winner Noel Brennan spoke recently with students about the winding, unexpected path that led him from theater at LFHS to telling stories on the national stage. Brennan’s message was clear: careers don’t always start where you expect them to, but passion and persistence can take you farther than a perfectly planned path could ever. During his first y