The student news site of Lake Forest Academy

The Spectator
The student news site of Lake Forest Academy

The Spectator
The student news site of Lake Forest Academy

The Spectator
All content by LFA Communications
LFAs 2021-2022 Boys Baseball team wins an away game.

[Photo] Last Season of the 2022-2023 School Year: Spring Sports

March 16, 2023
LFA students perform.

[Photo] VOX concert and LFA’s music program

May 27, 2022
Lake Forest Academy Girls’ Varsity Basketball team

[Photo] LFA sports in the “New Normal”

February 3, 2022
Lynne Kulieke was inducted into the school’s Hall of Fame in 1994 and named Ferry Hall Woman of Distinction in 2012. The Spanish award now bears her name.

[Photo] Remembering Lynne Kulieke

November 8, 2021
Gilmer Cook-Hoet is the new Global Concentration Department Chair and 11th grade English teacher. He previously worked at Dominican University, and his mission at LFA is to develop global courses and the global education program. He learned about LFA after attending Jose De Jesús’ investiture, and fell in love with the school’s global mission. A crazy fact about Cook-Hoet is that he played saxophone as a child, and even played at Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center!

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Swati Tanwar is a new French teacher in the Language Department. She is from India and just recently moved to Chicago with her husband. She lived in Europe for two years and has traveled to many different European countries, her favorite being Norway. She hopes to one day retire in Norway, drawn by the people, the food, and the landscape. She has been teaching for the past ten years at various institutions, and when she heard about LFA, she fell in love with the atmosphere of the school. She was drawn to the beautiful campus and great academics. She enjoys the connections that teachers are able to make with their students.

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Dr. Mireille Palm is LFAs newest Spanish and French teacher, who has earned her PhD from the University of Chicago. Though she grew up in France, she also has lived in both Montana and California. However, she currently resides in Highwood with her husband and two kids. She heard about Lake Forest Academy, while she was earning her doctorate, and was drawn to the school due to its diversity and boarding school environment. Her mission here is to “not just be a teacher, but an educator.” She strives to “open a dialogue” and make her classroom discussion meaningful and timely. She reflects on her education and values what she learned from her teachers beyond just the lessons.

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Nancy Nassr joins LFA in two newly created positions-- Assistant Head of School and Academic Dean. Shes an Egyptian immigrant, mother of two LFA students, and a life-long educator with a passion for learning and joy for teaching. She was drawn here because of the remarkable students, incredible faculty, and reputation for being a school that both challenges and supports its students. She hopes to, along with students and faculty, co-construct an academic experience that is second to none. She believes that joy can be found in even the smallest of experiences, and a fun fact about her is that shes a modern-day Dr. Doolittle. Nassr has a gift for communicating with animals!

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Sarah Michaelson teaches physics and chemistry at LFA. In addition to teaching, she is the assistant JV Field Hockey coach, as well as a dorm parent in Marshall Field. She has taught at various public schools in Iowa, and at Westover, a girls’ boarding school in Connecticut. While she liked the boarding school atmosphere, she wanted to be closer to home, which brought her to LFA. She also mentioned that she’d like to start a debate team at LFA. A fun fact about her is that she’s a huge Harry Potter fan.

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Dr. Mike Hall teaches AP Calculus AB and AP Statistics. In the fall, he coaches LFA’s first-ever girls golf team and, in the spring, boys baseball. He has been teaching for 27 years, 22 of which were at a collegiate level, while the other five have been at a high school level. He said, “The main reason I chose LFA is the student population. It is really diverse and matches what I expect an independent school to be.” Throughout a life of academia and athletics, Dr. Hall has also found a love for art, photography, and live music. In welcoming Dr. Hall to the community, please recognize that to him, “The biggest reward in teaching is making connections and helping students become the best they can possibly be.”

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Eric Freempong is LFA’s new pre-calculus and geometry teacher. In addition to teaching, he also coaches JV-B soccer and is a dorm parent for the Warner dormitory. After researching LFA, Mr. Freempong was drawn here for the diversity of cultures and the “activeness of faculty in student’s life.” His motto for both teaching and life is that with hard work, “anyone can do anything that they want to do.”

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Diego Duran-Medina is the director of the Stewart Center and focuses on travel opportunities and directing service programs. He was born in Venezuela but recently moved from the Tampa area in Florida. Before he came to LFA, he worked as a director of learning in St. Petersburg, FL. He is a big LEGO fan, and he also has a chihuahua called Dewey.

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Dr. Sarah Taylor teaches AP Psychology and coaches LFA’s varsity girls tennis team. She went to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for her undergraduate degree and then went on to earn her PhD in Experimental Social Psychology from Ohio University. She grew up in Wilson, North Carolina, which she says “is known for good barbecue.” Before college, she had not been in a traditional classroom since the age of twelve, saying, “I was doing whatever the late 90s version of Zoom was!” The lack of a traditional classroom setting is a product of the numerous years that she spent playing professional tennis. She recently moved here from Ohio, with her wife, Alexis Venechanos, and her three young daughters. What she loves most about LFA so far is having multiple interactions with students throughout the day: from the classroom, to the dorms, and out on the tennis courts.

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Patrick Coyle is LFA’s new Chief Communications Officer. He describes his job as telling the story of LFA in creative ways. Hailing from Washington D.C., Coyle previously worked at Georgetown Prep. He went to Dickinson College where he played basketball, and even played with LeBron James and Chris Paul! He decided to make the move to LFA after learning about the school and falling in love with both its mission and the community.

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Dr. John Basbagill is one of the new math department faculty members who joined LFA this year, and is currently working with LFA’s math team. He coaches both cross country and track and field. Before LFA, he worked in Silicon Valley (in the tech industry) for about ten years and then went on to earn his PhD at Stanford in Civil and Environmental engineering. He enjoys working with both international and students from the U.S, as well as teaching in a school that has a positive “social impact cause.” Dr. Basbagill strives to help his students enjoy math and looks forward to teaching the subject for years to come.. Overall, LFA is a “perfect” fit for Dr. Basbagill.

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