Foresters Forever: Four Alumni Reflect on Their College Days

By Jillian Beaster During Lake Forest College Homecoming earlier this month, Jillian Beaster met with four alumni of Lake Forest College (LFC) to gather insight into the experiences, stories and moments that bind Foresters together across the decades.

Taylor Moore – ‘21

Born and raised in Chicago, Taylor Moore attended Lake Forest Academy before joining the Lake Forest College community.

  “When I finally [toured] campus for the first time, I remember thinking ‘Oh, now this is it,’” Moore said.

"Lake Forest College was just so engaging," says alumna Taylor Moore. She remembered her excitement about the seemingly endless opportunities at LFC.

“I was just so excited to finally pursue what I wanted to pursue,” Moore said. “It was the time that I could [explore] who I really was.”

Before college, Moore expected to major in biology, but after speaking with professors in the psychology department, her path shifted. She said Professors Kelly, Brekke and Guglielmi “opened my eyes to the world of psychology, and it introduced me to so many things.”

Moore was an orientation leader, member of the dance and cheer team, served on executive board for the United Black Association (UBA), and worked in the campus mail room, as well as jobs in the community through Ferentino’s Pizzeria and CROYA, Lake Forest’s after-school program. During her freshman year, Moore was recognized with LFC’s Rising Star award for her leadership and contribution to campus, as well as academic and extracurricular accomplishments. Moore believes that “Lake Forest College was just so engaging…I branched out in ways that I wouldn’t have been able to had I not gone to the college.”

In the five years after graduation, Moore has worked as an Algebra 2 teacher in the Chicago Public School system. In May 2026, Moore achieved her Master of Education in Education Psychology with a concentration in neuropsychology from Ball State University.  

Moore has maintained connections from her time at LFC.

“I have a whole network of people that I connected with during those four years, whether we were sitting next to each other at the pep rally, or meeting in the POD line at 1 a.m. I just loved it all.”

Ellie Shuda – ‘16

Although Ellie Shuda was raised in a small town, she was drawn to Lake Forest College for its proximity and connections in Chicago.

“I was always a city girl, even though I’m from Monroe, Wisconsin,” Shuda said. “I wanted a big city where I could make my own path, and Lake Forest College felt like the right choice.”

Ellie Shuda created her own fashion-industry major at Lake Forest College.

Shuda was part of the Independent Scholar Program, where she double majored in economics and her own major creation, fashion history. On campus, Shuda participated in the Advanced Women’s Choir and was in the National Honors Society for Economics. She additionally offered babysitting services for many Lake Forest families.

The intimate school setting allowed for Shuda to connect deeply with her professors.

“Professor Janet McCracken knew I loved fashion by the way I dressed, and she recommended that I create my own major,” Shuda said. “My senior thesis perfectly incorporated elements of my independent scholar major and economics major, as it covered conspicuous consumption in the fashion industry.”

For seven years after graduation, Shuda worked as an executive assistant at Wafra, a New York private equity firm.  

“I was able to pursue both of my strengths and passions at the same time,” Shuda said. “I was able to craft my individual style, gain more confidence and overall sharpened my craft because the [New York finance world] is cutthroat.”

Shuda felt that her time in Lake Forest College’s In the Loop program during her junior year prepared her for life in New York. Through the program, Shuda interned at the Chicago Board of Trade and lived in a LFC-provided apartment downtown.

Recently, Shuda decided to move back to Illinois to be closer to family. She works as an executive assistant at Lightbank, a venture capital firm, in Chicago.

Shuda serves as a social chair of the class of 2016’s 10-year reunion, and she frequently visits the North Shore to reconnect with friends from college.

“I feel like it’s really grown…I enjoyed walking the campus for our 10-year visit,” Shuda said. “I’m just so proud and happy that I went to Lake Forest College.”

Eric Markey – ‘01

Before visiting Lake Forest College’s campus, Eric Markey had yet to experience a college that truly stood out to him. Because Markey was recruited for football, he did various campus visits and overnight stays with football teams before making his decision.

“None of them felt right until Lake Forest,” Markey said. “Not only was Lake Forest gorgeous, but it was really the people that made a huge difference in my decision.”

“My heart has never been far from school,” says Eric Markey, shown at his LFC graduation 25 years ago.

The community that Markey experienced during his visit with the Foresters football team impressed him, and that feeling continued during his first weeks on campus.

“I noticed that the freshman were actually friends with their junior and senior teammates,” Markey said. “That was a really unique thing that I did not see at the other schools, so from a cultural aspect I felt like it was a very inclusive environment.”

Markey thoroughly enjoyed the bond within the football team, so much so that he decided to host prospective football players during their campus visits.

In addition to being a student athlete himself, Markey enjoyed supporting the women’s volleyball and basketball teams. Aside from athletics, Markey found himself gravitating towards film screenings, among other student events.

“[These events] were cool because they got me to a different part of campus or a more mixed group of students other than just the athletes,” he said.

After graduation, Markey found himself in a career that utilized his economics degree. During his senior year, Markey interned in downtown Lake Forest with a futures trading firm, and he stayed at the company for over a year after graduation. Markey then transitioned into finance and banking, though recently he made a permanent switch into sales.

Living in Glenview, Markey has found ways to stay connected to Lake Forest. He has participated in Speed Networking, as well as presenting to economics and business classes about opportunities in sales. Markey tries to attend at least one football game a year and has introduced a new tradition to his family.

“Over the last couple years, I take my son and daughter to Lake Forest’s cafeteria on some random day when they don’t have school, and we have lunch there,” Markey said. “They like it because they kind of feel like college kids and they get to see where dad grew up…I think it’s a cool way to expand their minds about what college could be for them.”

While he graduated 25 years ago, Markey still feels just as connected to LFC.

“My heart has never been far from school,” Markey said.

Jean Johnson – ‘61

Jean Johnson from Mundelein was torn between her love for University of Colorado-Boulder and Lake Forest College. Two primary factors influenced her decision to attend LFC.

“My junior year of high school year, I met Gil Johnson, my future husband, who was a year ahead of me and going to Lake Forest College,” Johnson said. “I told my mom, and she considered Lake Forest College to be the Ivy League school of the Midwest.”

“I feel like I learned a lot about leadership at Lake Forest,” says Jean Johnson.

Because her husband Gil was a year ahead and invited Johnson to campus frequently, she felt like she was already part of the community.

“I really kind of feel like I spent five years there, because I went to all the doings and all the fraternity parties and met a lot of the Gamma Phi girls, so pledging a sorority was very easy,” Johnson said.

She joined the sorority her first year, and became president of Gamma Phi and the Panhellenic Society during her senior year. In addition to Greek life, Johnson was president of 4-H, a youth development program, president of the Lake County Cooperative Extension Service (an adult education program for women) as well as becoming at advisor to the college’s president.

“I feel like I learned a lot about leadership at Lake Forest,” Johnson said. “All of the professors were very good leaders in their fields…they were always very helpful.”

Johnson majored in speech and pursued Lake Forest College’s education program, as her mother was also a teacher. While in college, Johnson completed her student teaching at Everett School in Lake Forest, and she was offered a job in teaching right after graduation.

“I didn’t even have to go apply for a job which was great, especially because I graduated on June 10 and was married on July 1,” Johnson said.  “During my end of senior year, I was president of my sorority, doing student teaching and planning my wedding.”

Johnson and her husband got engaged between her junior and senior year, and her favorite memory from college was her husband’s fraternity pinning ceremony sophomore year.

“To receive a pin was kind of like a pre-engagement…a fella asks a gal to get pinned, and then she says yes or no, and then the fraternity has a celebration,” Johnson said. “It was really kind of beautiful because the fraternity guys come and sing their fraternity song and then they gave Gil his pin, and then he pinned it on me along with a pink carnation, my sorority’s flower.”

While Johnson enjoyed attending large events at Lake Forest College, she remembered smaller moments at the dining hall.

“Pencil skirts were the style back then and because I was in 4H, I sewed all the time…I mean I was making pencil skirts for girls like crazy and it only took me an hour,” Johnson said. “We wore [the skirts] to dinner, and the guys had to wear sport coats…we all had to dress for the dinner dress code.”

While Lake Forest College has changed immensely since 1961, Johnson enjoys her visits just the same.

“My son recently asked me ‘What was the greatest time of your life’ and I said, ‘My years at Lake Forest College,’” Johnson said.