Lakefield College School NOTABLE ALUMNI

I've been taking the values that Lakefield has taught me into my life now into university. I actually live with one of my former classmates at the moment. We're in the same student housing at Queens and we both take pride in having been able to go to Lakefield and have the opportunity to learn what they taught us and bring it into the Queen's community.

One of our alumni, who spoke in Chapel a couple of years ago, said that Lakefield is ‘the least pretentious school in the country’—and he pointed at the students and said—‘and it’s your job to keep it that way.’ So I attribute that to the fact that we are an outdoors kind of school  and the families are very down to earth, very committed to our community, to community in general. I bet you there’s a high number of our families who have also spent time at camp, and there’s a real link between camp culture and Lakefield—in fact, our kids call Lakefield ‘Camp Lakefield’ in the spring. So that’s a kind of person who loves the outdoors and loves people and loves learning.

I definitely appreciate Lakefield a lot more now, since I’ve graduated, than I probably did when I was a student. I just really, truly feel as if my Lakefield experience is that gift that keeps on giving.

People come back to this school and they connect with people, they connect with place, and there’s something very spiritual here. There’s a deep commitment to mind, body, and spirit.  There’s something here that sticks with you for the rest of your life and changes who you are.

I’ve been included in this massive network of alumni that has been really supportive, people who didn’t even know who I was that have wanted to connect with me.

Lakefield is like one of those friends that when you don't see them for too long and when you see them again, it's like you were never apart from them and you talk as if you saw them yesterday.

After attending Lakefield, they have a different appreciation for home, what that means, and just the family. I saw three boys leave each other, and every single time they came back, there was just this love and unconditional bond that is unbreakable now. All of a sudden, family has meant something more. They come back, and our family time is just that much more meaningful. So I've seen maturity. They've come back with an appreciation for their parents and family life. It's incredible. It just really is by far the best experience. We cracked the door for them, and they chose to walk through the door, but we have zero regrets. It's just made them that much more well-rounded.

At Lakefield, it felt like there was something for everyone, and that’s both because there’s a range of talents, but there’s opportunities for those talents to be nurtured and appreciated so that each kid feels like they have something to contribute. ... I’m an alumni, and by the time I met my husband, my youngest brother was graduating from Lakefield. So my husband, who I had talked about Lakefield to, was able to attend the closing graduation ceremony of my youngest brother. And I talked about this place, and he wasn’t really getting it. But when he left that closing ceremony, his line to me was, ‘Wow, that place knows how to make everyone feel good’. What he meant was, in previous graduation ceremonies, you see the same names, that same academic kid, that same athletic kid, getting award after award after award.

I think that the amount of current staff who are alumni or have had previous connections with the school reflects the impact that Lakefield leaves you with. There is a separate parent group, known as the Grove Society that does various fundraisers for the school as well as hosts events during the year, sponsoring different student activities to encourage the engagement of parents; (largely because the parents envy the high school experience their child is getting). I completed my studies at Lakefield four years ago, and my current core friend group is still the group I was closest with in high school. Many of them have considered continuing their Lakefield involvement by giving back financially to the school, and even applying for residential positions because of how impactful their time at LCS was, and want to give the same experience to new students.

Our alumni are incredible, and a passion of theirs is not so much to give to buildings—it’s to give to financial aid. We have a large endowment at the school and a really deep commitment to making our school as accessible as possible. It’s expensive, for sure. But because we’re so fortunate to have alumni and parents who give us this help, we can have a really high number of students here on financial aid—so that if we have a great student come to us, our goal is to admit great students, regardless of their family’s economic status.