Every year during the fall, Lake Forest Academy hosts universities from all over the country for LFA’s College Night. Although the event is required for LFA juniors and seniors, all grades are invited, and it is also open to students from other schools. College Night is a time for juniors to become familiar with different schools and for seniors to learn more about schools they are already interested in. In order to prepare for this night, Dean of Students Christ Tennyson requires that homework not be assigned for juniors and seniors. Although most teachers follow this request, homework is not the only thing prohibiting students from feeling comfortably prepared- so is practice.

   Students at LFA, individuals are required to play a team sport while attending. Whether that be in the fall, winter, or spring, every student will have participated in a team sport by the time they walk down the aisle at graduation. Therefore, many of the students attending college night this year were also in season and had practice that day. As a female-athlete playing a varsity sport, my practices typically run from 2 hours and 15 minutes to 2 hours and 30 minutes. On college night, some juniors and seniors still had to attend practice, although no homework was given. With practice being such a large time commitment, juniors and seniors should be exempt from attending, and instead, given that time to work on college essays, and preparing for the important night ahead of them.

   “My opinion is that we are prep school and we are preparing students for college, so college night should take priority,” said Athletic Director Darrin Madelely.

   Although Madeley is in charge of the sport’s teams at LFA, he recognizes the importance this night holds with students, especially seniors. Madeley gave coaches the option to hold practice with the expectation that they’d keep in mind the seniors’ best interests. Many seniors have November 1st deadlines for college applications, while some seniors’ applications were due as early as the end of September. College night, which took place on September 25th, was right around the time that applications were due for some seniors and the time they spent practicing could have been used working on college essays. With homework and sport practices taking priority every other day, College Night is a good time to get a break from those other things and focus on the college process. Ultimately, students at the Academy are students before they are athletes, and coaches should take that into consideration.