Lake Forest High School 2013 Grads Featured on New Mural

The Lake Forest High School Boosters will unveil a new installation of the popular “Images of Excellence” mural Aug. 30 at Lake Forest High School’s Varsity Field in connection with the school’s special “double” field hockey / football home opener.

The new mural installation will feature images of 2013 LFHS graduates whose athletic and academic achievements at LFHS earned them significant honors, including 2013 LFHS Boosters Outstanding Senior Athlete Award recipients Billy Bund, Kylie Carlson, Tommy Kutschke and Isabelle Montagne. In all, 18 LFHS alumni will again be featured on the mural again this year.

The Scouts football team will face Racine St. Catherine’s High School at 7:30 p.m., preceded by a rematch of last season’s field hockey state championship game between LFHS and Loyola Academy at 5 p.m. The Scouts are the defending state champions in field hockey.

“Images of Excellence is an incredible monument to the values, spirit and ethics embodied in our school and our athletes,” said Steve Reimer, Boosters President. “The LFHS Boosters are proud to recognize these principles while celebrating student achievement as reflected in the 2013-2014 Images of Excellence mural. We appreciate the continued support and generosity of our presenting sponsor, the Lake Forester, in helping to make this mural possible.”

While athletically themed, the Images of Excellence mural does not celebrate athletic achievement alone. The vision for the mural is to use athletics as a backdrop to highlight positive virtues, values and qualities generally, and to feature academics and performing arts in a complementary way. To reinforce this vision, the following words appear on the mural, alongside photographic images of LFHS student- athletes in action: Acceptance, Character, Commitment, Courage, Empathy, Honor, Integrity, Insight, Leadership, Passion, Respect, Responsibility, Scholarship, Spirit, Sportsmanship and Success.

These words were selected to incorporate the following:

• LFHS Boosters’ mission and mantra: Supporting Athletic Success, Spirit and Sportsmanship
• LFHS District 115’s mission: To inspire the passion to learn, the insight to know oneself, and the courage to make a difference
• The core principles of LFHS’s Emotional Wellness Initiative: Acceptance, Empathy, Integrity, and Responsibility/Accountability.
• Other complementary attributes that are considered in selecting recipients for various senior scholarships and awards on LFHS Honors Night. 

"Lake Forest is a community that strives for and embraces excellence. Our teams' successes reflect those aspirations and expectations,” said Michael Simeck, superintendent of schools for Lake Forest School districts 67 and 115. “The Boosters' support for our students and programs is as impressive as it is instrumental in our teams' achievements. We thank the LFHS Boosters for their continued support of projects like ‘Images of Excellence’ and the experiences they make possible for our students."

The process used in selecting the 18 students featured on the Images of Excellence mural follows the existing nomination and selection processes for key Honors Night awards, including the LFHS Boosters Outstanding Senior Athlete Award, the Senior Scholar-Athlete Award, the Bill Rawson Memorial Award and the Gayla Clemons Athletic Award, among others. This approach recognizes that the criteria for these Honors Night awards mirror many of the virtues and values described above, and is intended to assure objectivity in the mural selection process.

Based on this selection process, the new Images of Excellence mural features the following 2013 LFHS award recipients, photographed by Sportpics:

Ben Asma. Band. John Philip Sousa Band Award recipient, North Shore Honor Band, Illinois Music Educators Association Award recipient, Commended Student in the National Merit Scholarship Program, Cum Laude Society member, National Honor Society member, Illinois State Scholar, APT Senior Contribution Award recipient, APPLAUSE Scholarship recipient.

Billy Bund. Cross Country and Track & Field. LFHS Boosters Outstanding Senior Athlete Award Recipient, Bill Rawson Memorial Award recipient, 6-time Varsity Letter Winner in Cross Country and Track & Field, IHSA State Cross Country Medalist (5th) and All-State, IHSA State Track & Field Medalist at 1600-meters (5th) and All-State, 2-time All-County / All-Conference in Cross Country,Conference Champion in Track & Field at 1600-meters, Conference Record Holder at 1600-meters, Conference Champion in Cross Country, IHSA Regional Champion in Cross Country, Pioneer Press Cross Country Runner of the Year,  3-time LFHS Varsity Team Captain (Track & Field and Cross Country), Most Valuable in both Cross Country and Track & Field, All-Academic,National Honor Society member.

Kylie Carlson. Gymnastics. LFHS Boosters Outstanding Senior Athlete Award Recipient, 4-time Varsity Letter Winner in Gymnastics, 4-time Most Valuable, LFHS School Record-Holder on Vault, Beam, Floor and All-Around, 18-time IHSA State Meet event qualifier, 4-time IHSA State Medalist on Floor, 3-time IHSA State top 10 finisher on All-Around, 2-time Captain, All-3 Academic, Class of 2013 Valedictorian, Cum Laude Society member, National Honor Society member, Illinois State Scholar.

Andrew Clifford. Football and Lacrosse. LFHS Boosters Outstanding Athlete Award finalist, Captain (Football and Lacrosse), All-Conference (Football), All-County (Football), All-Area (Football), All-State (Football), LFHS Offensive Most Valuable (Football), Illinois High School Football Shrine Game selection.

Sam Downey. Basketball. Senior Scholar-Athlete Award recipient, LFHS Boosters Outstanding Athlete Award finalist, Captain, All-Conference, 2-time All-Academic, AP Honorable Mention, Sun-Times All-Area Honorable Mention, National Honor Society, Illinois State Scholar.

Hannah Faucher. Student Council President, Ellie Burns Memorial Scholarship recipient, APT Senior Contribution Award recipient.

Peter Gruenes. Baseball. LFHS Boosters Outstanding Athlete Award finalist, Captain, Most Valuable, All-Academic, All-Conference, National Honor Society member, Friends of Lake Forest Library Scholarship recipient, The Cooley Scholarship recipient.

Chris Janeck. Lacrosse and Soccer. LFHS Boosters Outstanding Athlete Award finalist, Captain (Lacrosse and Soccer), All-Academic (Lacrosse and Soccer), All-Conference (Lacrosse), State Runner-up team member (Lacrosse), National Honor Society member, Illinois State Scholar.

Tommy Kutschke. Football. LFHS Boosters Outstanding Senior Athlete Award Recipient, LFHS Defensive Most Valuable, 2-time All-Conference, NSC Lake Defensive Player of the Year, 2-time All-Area, All-County, 2-time Captain, Illinois High School Football Shrine Game selection, Wayne Whitmore Award recipient.

Adam LaVitola. Soccer. LFHS Boosters Outstanding Athlete Award finalist, Christopher Quon Memorial Award recipient, Captain, All-Conference, All-Sectional, Sun-Times All-Area, National Soccer Coaches Association Senior Excellence Award recipient.

Maddie Lipp. Tennis. LFHS Boosters Outstanding Athlete Award finalist, 2-time IHSA State Champion team member, IHSA State Doubles Champion, 3-time All-State, 2-time Sectional Singles Champion, Sectional Doubles Champion, 3-time All-Sectional, 3-time All-Conference, All-America, Most Valuable, Robbie Robison Pursuit of Excellence Award recipient.

Danielle Loeger. Soccer. LFHS Boosters Outstanding Athlete Award finalist, Captain, AllConference, All-Sectional, All-Academic, Most Valuable, NSC Sportsmanship Award recipient, National Honor Society member.

Isabelle Montage. Lacrosse and Field Hockey. LFHS Boosters Outstanding Senior Athlete Award Recipient, Christopher Quon Memorial Award recipient, 7-time Varsity Letter Winner in Lacrosse, Field Hockey and Basketball, 3-time Most Valuable in Lacrosse, 3-time All-Conference in Lacrosse, 3-time All-State in Lacrosse, 3-time All-American in Lacrosse, 2-time Academic All-4 American, 2-time Captain, All-Academic in both Lacrosse and Field Hockey, Senior Class President, Cum Laude Society member, National Honor Society member, Illinois State Scholar.

Nina Nissly. Swimming. LFHS Boosters Outstanding Athlete Award finalist, 3-time State Champion – Athletes with Disabilities, Comcast SportsNet Sports Awards - March of Dimes Inspirational Athlete Award runner-up, GLASA Mentor of the Year Award recipient. 

Gabriela Perino. Basketball, Volleyball and Soccer. Senior Scholar-Athlete Award recipient, Gayla Clemons Athletic Award recipient, LFHS Boosters Outstanding Athlete Award finalist, Captain (Basketball and Volleyball), All-Academic (Basketball, Volleyball and Soccer), Most Valuable (Basketball), All-Conference  (Volleyball), NSC Sportsmanship Award recipient, National Honor Society, Illinois State Scholar.

Colin Rowe. Swimming and Water Polo. LFHS Boosters Outstanding Athlete Award finalist, Captain (Swimming and Water Polo), 6-time IHSA State meet finalist in Swimming, School/Pool Record Holder in 7 events, All-American (Swimming), All-State (Swimming), All-Conference (Swimming and Water Polo).

Helen Schlachtenhaufen. Cross Country and Track & Field. LFHS Boosters Outstanding Athlete Award finalist, Captain (Cross Country and Track & Field), All-Academic (Cross Country and Track & Field), Conference Champion (Cross Country), All-County / Lake County Champion (Track & Field), All-Regional (Cross Country), IHSA State Qualifier (Cross Country and Track & Field), Most Valuable (Cross Country and Track & Field), Commended Student in the National Merit Scholarship Program, Cum Laude Society member, National Honor Society member, Illinois State Scholar, LFHS Fine Arts Wall of Fame Inductee.

Carly Schmidt. Track & Field, Gymnastics and Cheerleading. IHSA State Champion in the Pole Vault and All-State, 4-time IHSA State Qualifier (Track & Field), School Record Holder in Pole Vault, Most Valuable (Track & Field), 4-time IHSA State Qualifier (Gymnastics), Conference and Regional Champion team member (Gymnastics), NSC Sportsmanship Award recipient (Gymnastics).

The Lake Forester newspaper is the Presenting Sponsor of Images of Excellence.  

The mural will be exhibited year-round, and illuminated on LFHS game nights. The Boosters expect to continue to refresh the mural with new images each year.