Alumni
The College Turns 150
One Forester reflects on the school’s upcoming anniversary and the vision of our founders.
By Timothy State '93
A teenager arrives on campus, not really sure of himself or herself, makes a few friends from around the country, or even the world. The teen forges friendships that last a lifetime, broadening horizons along the way. A professor sees a glimmer of brilliance the teen is not capable of seeing yet. Or an administrator provides a bit of guidance, reinforcement, and sometimes a leap of faith that the student will succeed. A staff member shares an enlightening anecdote of life experience, filling in the way mom or dad might if they were on campus every day.
It’s my story. It’s your story. It’s the story of every Forester for the past 150 years who has walked the paths of our enchanting forest.
At Lake Forest College, teenagers become their own, enabled to leave this campus to not just tackle their world, but conquer it. Those who go onto graduate school get into the nation’s best programs. Those who choose business, rise to the upper levels. For alumni focusing on family life, they run the PTA or Scout troops, winning honors along the way. Foresters are service-minded, running organizations, communities, and corporations, successfully leading along paths of their choice.
Whether Lake Forest instills the qualities that drive accomplishment or attracts those who are destined for success is a question worthy of debate.
What is not up for debate is this: The College and its liberal arts education have served as a catalyst for success in the lives of thousands of individuals since 1857. For 150 years, the College has gathered people together with a passion for ongoing personal growth and achievement, and in 2007, we will celebrate this sesquicentennial milestone with a yearlong series of events.
This year, we mark the occasion of thriving as a living, learning community, of challenging ourselves to new and better heights, and, most importantly, staying true to the values that make Lake Forest College timelessly distinctive. The year will help us understand our history, celebrate our achievements, and contemplate our future.
A variety of programs, events, exhibitions, and performances will highlight Lake Forest College at its finest. Whether you live in Lake Forest, Chicagoland, across the country, or around the globe, there will be opportunities for alumni, parents, and friends of the College to participate in a variety of ways, allowing each of us to reflect on how the vision of these founders has marked each of our lives.
A Vision of Liberal Learning and Service
We are a community of people who view every life opportunity as an occasion to learn, set high standards for themselves, each other, and work to achieve beyond those standards.
This is the vision a group of ministers had in mind when they ventured from Chicago in search of a beautiful location to build a school, a church, and a community.
I am reminded of the story President Emeritus Eugene Hotchkiss III used to tell every fall when the College welcomed back upperclassmen and a new crop of students.
A train of Presbyterian ministers and leaders were looking for a place to build their community with a university and a church. So they took the train north from Chicago towards Milwaukee, and when they came to the highest point above the Lake Michigan shore, they stopped the train at a little deer path, now Deerpath Road. They got off the train and followed the path toward the lake. When they arrived at the bluff overlooking the lake, they said to each other, “This is it. This is where we should build our community.”
“What shall we call it?” one asked.
“Well, there’s a lake,” one said, looking to the lake for inspiration.
“And there’s a forest,” another said, admiring the beautiful hardwood forest they had just walked through.
“Well that’s it. Lake Forest!”
It’s at this point in the story President Hotchkiss would point out, “Had they come from the lake, we would have been known as Forest Lake.”
This set in motion the beginning of a school dedicated to liberal learning and service. One hundred fifty years later, we continue to maintain their vision. In the process, we have set higher marks of achievement for ourselves, and their vision has become our own.
“Today we are much more the institution our founders meant us to be than we ever have been in our 150-year history,” Leslie T. Chapman ’79, vice president for business affairs, has said as the College prepares for its sesquicentennial. The fact is, we are much closer to realizing their vision than ever before.
Timothy State ’93 is the executive director of alumni programs and special projects and serves on the Sesquicentennial Steering Committee.