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S P E C TAT O R 1500 WEST KENNEDY ROAD, LAKE FOREST, IL 60045
VOLUME 97 NUMBER 5
Featured Stories School spring break trips
page 2 OP-ED
page 5 FEATURES
Proximity and the school-wide dorm checks
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MARCH 15, 2019
Old hotline, new awareness
NEWS
E-learning day pros and cons
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Photo by John Kuhns Signs around school bring awareness to the available LFA hotline.
By John Kuhns Sports Editor
Being a boarding school, LFA has countless responsibilities that must be tended to each day. Whether it is academics, athletics, or campus life, there is required work that must be done around the clock in order to maintain full functionality. Through all of these topics, student health and safety stand atop the list. LFA offers counseling and aid for members of the community struggling with mental health issues. Among these outlets, the school now offers a hotline which students can utilize if they feel unsafe while on campus.
“We just want people to feel safe,” said Jennifer Madeley, a school counselor and seminar department chair. The program was implemented in order for students to anonymously voice concerns that they believe may be threatening their individual comfort or safety on campus. Though many students may be unaware that the hotline was available prior to its recent seminar introduction, it has been implemented for around two years. Kristin Paisley, LFA’s Director of Business Services and Human Resources, has been working to change this narrative, expanding the outreach attainable by the program.
“The hotline is a quick option for students to report any immediate concerns,” said Ms. Paisley in regards to its originating role. It provides a platform where students and faculty alike can voice any concerns that don’t require the immediate attention of a medical emergency, but are severe enough to need eventual action. Students can anonymously call in to voice personal concerns, or those of others who they believe require outside help. It is the optimal resources to assist community members through the challenges that can accompany the boarding school atmosphere. “At this point, it is about getting the word out” said Ms. Paisley when asked about spreading the message of the hotline’s availability. Students and faculty alike can call the number on the flyer pictured along with this story in order to access the program and its offerings. Right now, there are two access points with a third in the form of an app in the production process. It can be reached through phone at (844) 801-3782 and web at www.lfa.ethicspoint.com. All members of the community are encouraged to use it as its goal is to promote safety.
Love/hate for a day off:
LFA has its first e-learning day page 6 & 7 ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Young rising artist page 8 SPORTS
College athletes and their success page 11 GLOBAL PERSPECTIVES
Venezuelan president page 12
By Angelina Chan Managing Editor of Photos
As technology advances, education changes as well. However, there is one aspect of school that has only recently been affected by an increasingly digital world-snow days. Following the conclusion of an initial three-year pilot program in 2015, the Illinois General Assembly recently approved an extension statewide for schools, such as Lake Forest Academy, to have an e-learning day in place of a regular school day or a cancellation, especially in weather-related situations like exceptionally cold temperatures or snowfall. The first widespread use of this law was during the recent January polar vortex, in which school closings led to obligatory participation in this program. “Ultimately, I am glad that we made a decision as a school to not put our community members at risk given the cold temperatures. I think that speaks volumes about our commitment as a school to our students’ wellbeing,” said Chris Tennyson, the Dean of Students & Academic
Affairs and Assistant Head of School. Since Lake Forest Aacademy does not have the same flexibility as many public schools that have certain designated days that could be easily made up at the end of the year, e-learning days were, to Tennyson, important since we needed to “make sure that [LFA] was still open in some capacity… to get the educational experience to function as normally as possible, albeit not within the walls of the school.” Despite this, there was a mixed reaction from LFA students. Many disliked the program, including freshman Gemma Fink, who responded that the best way to improve an e-learning day was “by not doing it,” noting that she disliked many of the assignments. Still, some appreciated the experience, such as junior Isis Burgos. “It was really interesting and a lot different from what I was expecting…Just having that extra free time to do both [projects] and other stuff made it super convenient. I think it would be really cool if we’d have another e-day, because it was really chill and laid back.” Surprisingly, the students who directly
participated in the e-learning days may not have been the most impacted. Amanda Byron, an English faculty member, commented on how e-learning affected parents of students, especially in elementary school. “I’ve heard reactions from friends who are parents of elementary-aged children... [that] having them do all kinds of activities more geared towards school and not homework put a lot of expectation on parents that they weren’t equipped to do,” said Byron, mentioning that parents who still had to work during the polar vortex were particularly affected by the change. Yet the e-learning days were also a way of being creative in a situation where education still has to occur outside the traditional experience. “Hopefully those two days weren’t being served as too much of a disruption to that,” said Tennyson, noting the creativity of the assignments, video calls, or other projects necessary for e-learning participation. “I do hope that both students and faculty alike gained an appreciation for the personal connections that we had when we were in a classroom together.”