The Woodlands Academy of the Sacred Heart community joined area representatives of the Hindu, Islamic and Jewish faiths to celebrate values they share during an interfaith prayer service Jan. 21 at the all-girls college prep high school in Lake Forest. Following an opening prayer and brief remarks in the school’s chapel, students, faculty and staff participated in four sessions focusing on how each faith traditionally approaches prayer. Pundit Anil Joshi Ji from the Hindu Mandir of Lake County in Grayslake led the session on Hindu practices, held in the school’s gym.

Woodlands Academy of the Sacred Heart has earned the College Board AP^® Computer Science Female Diversity Award for achieving high female representation in College Board’s AP Computer Science Principles course. This award honors the all-girls college-prep high school in Lake Forest for its work toward closing the gender gap by expanding girls’ access to AP computer science courses during the 2020-21 school year. “By encouraging young women to study advanced computer science coursework, Woodlands Academy is closing the gap in computer science education and empowering young women to access the opportunities available in STEM career fields,” College Board Chief of Global Policy and External Relations Stefanie Sanford said.

As a member of the first-ever all-female 4-Way Dynamic Indoor Skydiving team, Gianna Keuer, 15, will represent Team USA at the April 2022 World Cup competition in Belgium. She and three teammates from Colorado, Oregon and New York won a silver medal at the 2021 U.S. Indoor Skydiving Nationals, qualifying them for a spot in the world championship event. Gianna is a sophomore at Woodlands Academy of the Sacred Heart, an all-girls college-prep high school in Lake Forest. “One goal of my team is to inspire girls to work hard and follow their dreams, and I believe that my experience at Woodlands has helped me learn to do just that,” she says. “Being in an all-girls school has helped me build a self-confidence that’s enabled me to accomplish so much more than I could have imagined.” (Gianna is on the far right in the photo.)