As a boarding school, Lake Forest Academy is a place where students
pursue their academic, athletic, and art careers. For many, however, it is more than just that. LFA is also a home to half of the student body for 9 months of the year in one of the five dorms on campus: Marshall Field, Ferry Hall, Mcintosh cottage, Warner, or Atlass. Students thrive in the communities created within them.
Once the boarding students pack up and leave for the summer, kids participating in summer programs move into the dorms to participate in a wide variety of summer camps available here on LFA’s campus. Lfa runs an Esl program [English Second Language], but several organizations such as the Chicago Cubs camp and the Peak Performance Swim camp rent out athletic facilities on campus.
LFA has hosted summer programs since 1979. Today, about twenty-three are held on campus and range from soccer, to rock and roll, to chemistry. The kids in these programs are between the ages of 13-18. In a number of these camps some students stay on campus until the end of their program. The 2019 program lasted from July 15 to August 16. With around 130 boys and girls participating in the camps.
“The athletic compartment of the program has grown simply because LFA has upgraded its fields and has become a more attractive place to host training,” said Micheal Riedy, LFA’s Chief Financial Officer
LFA is a beautiful campus known for great facilities to name a few the turf fields, swimming pool, and theater attracts several organizations that use LFA to host their summer programs. The revenue from the summer programs supports LFA’s efforts to educate its students and make their high school experience enjoyable.
“Most of [LFA’s ] revenue comes from student tuition and hosting events, so these programs are very important to the school economically ” said Mr. Reidy
The use of campus facilities within these camps introduce prospective students to the school. Mike Reidy
“The biggest program has always been our ESL  program because it helps recruit students, aligns with our mission, and brings along funding,” noted Mr. Riedy.
The summer camps end only a couple days before the school year begins. Every year the transition occurs during a different time period, which puts pressure on LFA’s staff to make sure the campus is in top shape.
Despite the staff’s best efforts, students still found there to be a lack of preparation for move in day. In one quad of Marshall Field, dorm the shower doors were pulled out of the hinges and couldn’t be closed. In a dorm room in Marshall Field one of the desks in the room was not attached to the walI on one side which made it difficult to use. In one of the dorm’s in Ferry Hall the lights malfunctioned and weren’t turning on.
The students have been thriving through the 2019- 2020 school year despite the subpar opening of dorm life.