Wall of Excellence FAQ's       

Each year approximately 15-17 seniors are selected for the Wall of Excellence. Four of these seniors are the LFHS Boosters Outstanding Senior Athlete Award winners, other seniors include OSAA finalists, a number of department award winners, memorial award winners, student leaders, and may include any senior individual state champions.

The four LFHS Boosters OSAA winners (2 male and 2 female), the LFHS department award winners and memorial award winners will be announced at “Honors Night” in May. OSAA Finalists are not invited to Honors Night, unless they are invited for an award unrelated to Boosters OSAA, since Boosters will not know until after Honors Night who the finalists will be.

1. STUDENT-ATHLETES MUST COMPLETE AN APPLICATION. The application can be found on the Boosters website (lfhsboosters.org). The application is opened to students in early March and will remain active for approximately one month

Boosters will advertise the application on our website, through our constant contact email blast list (email [email protected] to be added), and on our social media accounts.

No applications will be accepted after the due date.

2. ATHLETIC DEPARTMENT & DEANS OFFICE REVIEW ALL APPLICATIONS. The Athletic Department receives all applications submitted for OSAA. Once the application portal has closed the Athletic Department and the Dean’s Office review all applications for athletic code and other disciplinary code violations. LFHS Boosters only receives the applications that are forwarded by the Athletic Department.

LFHS Boosters has no knowledge if an application(s) has been removed by the Athletic Department, therefore Boosters does NOT know which student-athletes have or have not applied for the OSAA.

3. LFHS BOOSTERS – SCORING OF APPLICATIONS & VOTING. The Athletic Department provides approved applications along with coaches’ recommendations to the LFHS Boosters Grants Committee.

The Grants Committee uses a mathematical matrix to award points to each athlete in 4 categories - Athletic Performance, Leadership, Spirit & Sportsmanship, and Academics. These points are awarded based on Varsity Team honors/awards an athlete has received (ie. All Conference, All State, Coaches Award, MVP, NSC Sportsmanship Award, Captain, Academic All-Conference, etc.) and coaches’ ratings. The point totals are used to narrow the applicant pool down to the top tier of boys and girls’ athletes. All awards stated on an athlete’s application are verified by members of the Boosters Grants Committee.

After removing the names of the athletes from the applications, the Grants Committee provides each Boosters Board member with 2 sets of applications – one for boys and one for girls. Each Board member then votes by ranking all the girls and all the boys from 1-10. (some years there are additional or fewer applications to rank)

The vote is done silently, all information is strictly confidential and returned to the Grants Committee when voting is completed. Board members with student-athletes applying for OSAA are NOT allowed to vote on their child’s application or any of the same sex applications (ie. if their daughter applied, they are not allowed to vote for the female OSAA candidates, they are allowed to vote for the boys), nor do they participate in the counting of the votes.

The votes are then tabulated by a Grants committee member (this member will not have a child applying for the OSAA award), the top two boys and top two girls are the OSAA Winners, these four athletes will be invited to awards night and will be depicted on the Wall of Excellence. Shortly after Honors Night and when individual IHSA State competitions have concluded, additional OSAA Finalists as ranked by the Boosters Board vote will be announced and included on the Wall of Excellence.

All athletes that compete on IHSA/LFHS Varsity recognized teams are eligible to apply, including those receiving Division I athletic scholarships. However, an athlete receiving a full athletic scholarship from a Division I school, while eligible to apply/win the OSAA award and be depicted on the Wall, may not be eligible to receive the $1,000 scholarship that Boosters awards OSAA Winners due to NCAA regulations - the Grants Committee will work with individual winners and their institutions.

There are various club sports at LFHS that do not fall under this category – ie. Sailing, Hockey, Squash, Rugby, etc. Unfortunately, only the IHSA/LFHS Varsity recognized teams that those athletes participate in will be considered.

Consideration is given to the following awards for varsity sport participation only—Captain, MVP, Coaches Award, NSC Sportsmanship Award, NSC Leadership Council, NSC All Academic, All Conference, and All State, as well as how many LFHS varsity sports were played during an athletes 4 years at LFHS. Additionally, coaches provide a recommendation that is also taken into consideration for each athlete. Awards given for any activity or club outside of LFHS sports are not considered. All awards stated on an athlete’s application are verified by members of the Boosters Grants Committee.

No. Although Boosters members love to hear where student athletes are continuing their athletic careers, the OSAA awards are based solely on the accomplishments achieved on LFHS varsity teams.

As noted in WHAT AWARDS ARE CONSIDERED ON THE LFHS BOOSTERS OSAA APPLICATION, the awards received while playing varsity sports, your coach’s recommendation, and the number of varsity seasons played throughout the 4 years at LFHS are considered when determining OSAA winners and finalists. That said, Boosters has had many athletes who have only played and excelled at one sport at LFHS depicted on the Wall of Excellence.

OSAA winners and finalists, as well as any department award winners who have participated in multiple varsity sports get to choose which uniform they will be depicted in on the Wall.

No. The Boosters OSAA scoring matrix only considers accomplishments in varsity sports played at Lake Forest High School. Although Boosters values community service, those activities are not taken into consideration. The Boosters Board evaluates the athletic performance, leadership, spirit & sportsmanship, and academic qualities that are demonstrated while playing LFHS varsity sports.

On the OSAA application the student-athlete is asked to request a coach or multiple coaches to give recommendations. Spring coaches are asked to provide what awards an athlete will most likely receive for their spring senior season so they will get credit for that season. Spring athletes should always include their spring coach’s name on their OSAA application for them to complete a coaches recommendation, in order to get credit for any possible spring awards (ie. Coaches Award, Sportsmanship Award, MVP, etc.) given at the end of the season.

Yes, the Boosters Grants Committee will request multiple Varsity coach recommendations if multiple Varsity coaches are input on the OSAA application by the athlete and will use the Varsity coach’s recommendation that is most beneficial for the applicant. It does not negatively impact an athlete’s application to ask for multiple Varsity coach recommendations.

Please note that the Grants committee will NOT ask for a recommendation from a coach if the student did not include the coach's name on their application.

* Information listed on the above FAQ’s are from the 2021-2022 school year and are subject to change.