For many kids, it’s not very often that you can say you walk the same hallways as your parents or grandparents once did in high school. However, for Lake Forest students, this occurrence is far from rare.
Legacy students are very easy to come by at LFHS. Many walk similar paths to the ones their relatives did while attending. They participate in the same traditions, sit in the same classrooms, and are even taught by the same teachers. Whether they are second-, third-, or fourth-generation Scouts, continuing their family ties at LFHS is something they do with great pride.
Many students at LFHS have a passion for sports influenced by their family legacy. Senior Karl Nagel, a third-generation Scouts football player, shared how special it was for him to follow in his grandpa’s and dad’s footsteps on Varsity field.
“My grandpa played for Coach Lindmeyer. My dad played for Coach Berry. One of the biggest reasons I decided to start playing was to carry on the legacy that my grandpa started, and dad continued,” Nagel said. “It meant a lot to me to be able to carry on that legacy.”
Teachers are also impacted by legacy students. Steve Clegg, an economics teacher and track coach, has been teaching at LFHS for 32 years. In recent years, he started to teach the children of students he taught when he first started teaching at LFHS. He finds it to be a great reminder of the time that he has spent in this community.
“Teaching and coaching ‘kids of kids’ is evidence of the roots I now have in the Midwest and specifically the LFHS community. I am grateful to have had such a great opportunity to work here long enough to see the next generation come through the high school,” Clegg said.
He adds that seeing former students and athletes as parents brings him joy.
“I often joke about how it makes me feel old, but the reality is that it always brings a smile to my face,” Clegg said.
At LFHS, the halls echo with growth, resilience, and tradition. Kat Yakes, a fourth-generation scout, embodies what it means to honor a legacy. Her great-grandpa was in the first graduating class at the high school, starting their family’s legacy here.
“Entering LFHS my freshman year, I knew that I would be the start of the fourth generation of Yakes at the high school. It left me little tradition to follow in their footsteps. However, walking through the hallways and being able to see my family in numerous pictures is a constant reminder of the history that took place,” Yakes said.
As important as it is for the students to uphold the Scout legacy, it is an even bigger honor for their relatives who are able to see their kids walk similar paths that they did. Michael Yakes, father of Kat, recalls making the decision to move back to his hometown of Lake Forest.
“I had been living out of state for work without family or close friends living nearby. This helped me and my wife realize how important it was for us to raise our children near our family, and within a supportive community, allowing us to always be able to look back on our family’s history,” Mr. Yakes said.
Mr. Yakes looks back on his high school experience as a third-generation Scout as inspiring, and thinks “seeing [his] grandfather and father’s legacies still being honored during [his] high school days made [him] feel at home while walking the halls of LFHS.”
Many kids whose parents, grandparents, or even great-grandparents attended the high school like to keep traditions alive and make previous generations proud of them.
“To this day, I still follow small things of past stories they have told me. From having yet to step on the Senior Star, to seniors wearing togas, these things allow me to uphold what is known as the ‘classic’ LFHS experience,” Kat Yakes said.
The same feeling of tradition goes for Karl Nagel.
“The football team back then hated Libertyville too. That rivalry has been going on forever,” Nagel said.
The roots planted at LFHS are deep. Whether you are a generational Scout or not, it is easy to see how tradition and family are key factors in the rich history of LFHS. For generation students, the four years at the high school aren’t just a time to grow academically and socially– they’re an opportunity to continue their family’s story.
