Woodlands Academy fundraiser ‘Going for Gold’

Woodlands Academy of the Sacred Heart’s 50th annual Congé fundraiser will celebrate this milestone in late February by “Going for Gold” to benefit student athletics and wellness at the all-girls high school in Lake Forest. Those attending will hear from an alumna who’s currently a United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC) executive. They’ll also hear from a retired NBA and college coach whose lifelong dream of coaching high school basketball has finally come true at Woodlands Academy.

Kate Hartman Rosenzweig, a 2000 Woodlands graduate, is the USOPC’s chief external affairs officer. She leads the committee’s public, media, international and government relations efforts while also rallying enthusiasm and support for Team USA. The Lake Forest native’s responsibilities include increasing visibility of the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic movements as well as overseeing the management of key charter relationships with the International Olympic Committee, the International Paralympic Committee and Congress to demonstrate the USOPC’s impact. Prior to joining the USOPC, Rosenzweig served as vice president of strategic communications/North America for the Coca-Cola company managing all internal and external communication for the company’s flagship market.

Larry Farmer experienced great collegiate success as a member of the three-time NCAA national champion UCLA Bruins basketball team coached by the legendary John Wooden in the early 1970s. He was then drafted by the NBA Cleveland Cavaliers and the ABA (at the time) Denver Nuggets. Farmer’s coaching credentials include the NBA, where he was an assistant for the Golden State Warriors. At the collegiate level, his head coaching stints included UCLA and Loyola University/Chicago. But when Farmer decided to retire to spend more time with family, his lifelong dream to coach high school basketball remained unfulfilled. That dream finally came true when he assumed the duties of head varsity basketball coach at Woodlands Academy this season.

The school’s Congé fundraiser takes place Saturday, Feb. 25, at the Glen View Club, 100 Golf Road, Golf, IL, 60029.

It all begins with cocktails and a silent auction at 6 p.m. followed by dinner and the program, including a live auction.

Live auction highlights include:

• Something for both sun worshipers and snow bunnies to bid on – a get-away house in either Costa Rica or Vail, Colorado.
• A premium concert package.

The silent auction items feature:

• Bears, Blackhawks and Notre Dame tickets
• Chicago Cubs 1914 Club
• Door County Getaway at Harbor Guest House
• Concert tickets -- Andrea Bocelli and Lollapalooza
• Deerpath Inn afternoon tea for six
• Elawa Farm dinner for six

Congé is derived from the French word for “play date.” To purchase event tickets, view the live and silent auction items up for bids and/or purchase raffle tickets, visit https://one.bidpal.net/conge23. In addition, online bids for some of the silent auction items can be made on this website during the week before the Feb. 25 event.

Sponsorship opportunities also are available as another way of supporting Woodlands Academy’s mission of educating young women in transformative ways.

Woodlands Academy is a nonprofit independent Catholic day-and-boarding, college-preparatory school for young women of all faiths in grades nine through 12. It is

part of a larger network of 25 schools in the U.S. and Canada and more than 150 schools in 41 countries on six continents.

More information about its Congé fundraiser is available online or by contacting Cynthia Gentleman, associate director of development, at 847-234-4300, ext. 1038, or cgentleman@woodlandsacademy.org.