On Oct. 30, Lake Forest Academy hosted the annual 2026 Healthy Choices Day for student well-being and the cultivation of positive decision-making in everyday life.
Healthy Choices Day is an all-day event dedicated by the school once in a year where the student body is assigned to participate in different lectures and activities based on grade level.
With communication and stewardship in the community for the freshmen, a sewing lesson and physical self-defense for the sophomores, suicide prevention and depression awareness for the juniors and sexual health awareness and CPR training for the seniors, the event was organized into diverse programs appropriate for each class.
Director of Experiential Learning and Health, Wellness and Community Department Chair Erin English said this year’s event allows the school to “stay current with what the adolescent developmental experience may be.” As a faculty member of LFA for her 14th year, English believes that each year’s Healthy Choices Day has made an impact within and beyond the campus walls.
“There is a buzzing energy around campus—the students are connecting outside the rigors of tough academic classes. That is equally important to developing a whole child. The fact that they are connecting, engaging and learning about health practices is building their own social network and building a sense of community for them.”
This year, Healthy Choices Day was separated into two sections: the keynote address was delivered by Karen Wilkes—the Executive Director of Liberty Prairie—where students learned about environmental sustainability and making healthy choices for the environment through a sit-down lecture in the auditorium.
Subsequent to the speaker, students dispersed into groups to receive the experiential learning activities.
After the event, English explained that “students were telling [her] how powerful the sessions were…with information they didn’t know before, they feel so much more equipped now.”
She added, “This is a uniting, shared experience that can bring us together as a school—and that feels right.”