by Mike Vachow, Head of Upper School
Our Healthy Perspectives Day held Friday, April 13, marked the third
year the School has devoted an entire day to workshops and
presentations on emotional and physical health and our relationships
with each other. As with just about all things, year three
marks an excellent time to take stock of the effort’s past
and its future.
At its very base, Healthy Perspectives Day arose from the
School’s long-standing commitment to the whole child, and in
particular, the articulation of that commitment in our honor
code: “We respect our own health and well being and
that of others.” Throughout the School’s
history, the most important condition of hire for its faculty and staff
has been a deep affection for children and childhood and a willingness
to tend to the students’ intellectual, social, emotional and
physical growth. While LFCDS aims to weave many different
subject areas into the continuum of education, we determined that some
topics deserved special attention, such as Internet
Safety, human sexuality and drug awareness. We also wanted to
take time to alleviate some of the anxiety so many parents
and students feel as they anticipate leaving the comfort and safety of
the Day School for high schools throughout the nation.
Several parents of students in the classes of 2002 and 2003 combined
their interest in learning more about the issues of human sexuality
their children would be facing as they moved into high school the next
year with their connections to LaCASA, the Lake County Council Against
Sexual Assault. For two years, we brought in Jane Hunter,
Director of Educational Programs at LaCASA, to conduct workshops with
our oldest students and their parents. Ms. Hunter, who
visited with fifth and sixth graders this year, remains a galvanizing
influence at the School.
In 2004, I solicited the help of Kendall Born, vice president of parent
education with Panther Partners, to build on our work with
LaCASA. We reconnected with colleagues at Lake Forest Academy
about their Healthy Choices Day, and after determining that
developmental differences precluded sharing the day with them, we
decided to use their model to build our own program. Since 2004, Upper
School faculty and administrators have collaborated with Panther
Partners to organize and carry out this important day in the life of
the School. Two years ago, the Lower School began its own Healthy
Perspectives Day.
In the three years we have conducted our Healthy Perspectives Day, we
have brought in a wide array of presenters and activities.
Our keynote speakers have included former Bulls star, Bob Love, who
spoke about overcoming a speech impediment that followed him into
adulthood; Frances Murchinson, an expert on child nutrition; and,
Imagination Theater, an interactive improv troupe that focuses on
adolescent issues from the students’ perspective.
In workshops and presentations, students have engaged with Pilates and
yoga instructors, nutritionists and orthopedic surgeons to learn more
about the strengths and limitations of their
bodies. LaCASA, CROYA, Lake Forest
Academy’s student leadership group MOSAIC, and Woodlands
Academy’s HOPE organization have been regular presenters at
Healthy Perspectives Day helping students learn more about the
increasingly complex relationships they build with each other.
The Lake Forest Police Department has conducted hands-on workshops on
self-defense and presentations on kids and the law. For two
years, Scott Kraniak, a former undercover drug enforcement officer,
spoke to students and parents about the presence of illicit narcotics
in Lake County, and more specifically in Lake Forest, where Kraniak had
recently been placed as a community liaison officer at Lake Forest High
School. And, as the Internet and the enticements kids find
there have grown, we have brought in experts on Internet crime, social
networking sites, Instant Messaging and on-line gaming. Each
year, we collect formal feedback from student, parents and faculty on
our presenters and use that information to begin forming next
spring’s Healthy Perspectives Day.
Lake Forest Country Day School is proud to continue shaping our
commitment to the whole child through Healthy Perspectives Day and our
daily attention to individual and community well-being.
