Woodlands Academy holds first 2025-26 Service Day

A Woodlands Academy of the Sacred Heart education emphasizes community service. Goal III of all Sacred Heart schools seeks to educate to a social awareness that impels action. With this in mind, Woodlands Academy held the first of its two 2025-26 Service Days on Sept. 17. Freshmen and juniors from the all-girls college-preparatory day-and-boarding high school in Lake Forest lent a helping hand to some area service organizations. At the same time, sophomores and seniors participated in retreat activities.

The day began at Woodlands Academy with a discussion of why the school emphasizes service to its surrounding community, during which some juniors shared their past service experiences with the freshmen.

Equipped with this insight, Woodlands’ freshmen headed to the Mother’s Trust Foundation prom dress storage facility at the University Center of Lake County in Grayslake. There, they helped sort and organize dresses for the foundation’s annual prom dress giveaway and donated any unusable dresses to the Salvation Army. Based in Lake Forest, Mothers Trust Foundation provides immediate assistance during times of crisis to low-income children in Lake County.

Woodlands’ juniors began their day of community service at Fill a Heart 4 Kids in Lake Forest, which provides homeless, at-risk and foster children with food, critical necessities, life skills and educational support. While there, they helped inventory, organize and fill care packages. Juniors then spent the afternoon playing games and visiting with residents at Sunrise of Highland Park, which offers assisted living and memory care.

“I’m so very proud of our freshmen and juniors who did truly awesome work during this year’s first Service Day,” said Erin Brysiewicz, Woodlands Academy’s service coordinator. “We do this with the hope that the girls gain a greater understanding of themselves and see the difference they can make in the lives of others.”

Meanwhile, senior class members participated in a "Spirituality and Discernment" off-campus experience Sept. 16 and 17 at the Bellarmine Retreat Center in Barrington. They joined in prayer, reflection and contemplation to nurture their spiritual lives and help them discern and make choices about the future.

Sophomores participated in their annual class-level retreat at Woodlands’ Gloria Dei Center. This year’s theme was "Exploring Relationships with God, Self, Others and Creation," planned to give students opportunities for reflection, contemplation and bonding on the school’s 41-acre campus.

Woodlands Academy's final Service Day of the 2025-26 school year is in March. Sophomores and seniors will volunteer at area service organizations while freshmen and juniors participate in retreats.

The school's service program requires freshmen to perform 10 hours of service during their first year at Woodlands. Sophomores, juniors and seniors must do 20 hours of service per year. In addition, students annually complete a written reflection for each of their service sites. Many Woodlands Academy students become passionate about service and far exceed the required minimum of 70 hours.

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Woodlands Academy of the Sacred Heart is a Catholic, independent, day-and-boarding, college-preparatory school for young women of all faiths in grades nine through 12. Founded in Chicago in 1858 and located in Lake Forest since 1904, Woodlands is part of a worldwide network of Sacred Heart Schools that spans the United States and 40 other countries on six continents. To learn more, visit woodlandsacademy.org.