Lake County Gazette

Matthew Hunt ’92 has built a distinguished career in fashion, working with some of the industry's most influential names and brands. He attributes his success to his education at Lake Forest College.

In 1988, Hunt chose to attend the College for three main reasons. First, he sought a close-knit community that contrasted sharply with his high school experience in Louisville, Kentucky.

“Even walking around during orientation on day one at the College, people said, ‘Hi,’ to me and acknowledged me,” Hunt said. “It was such a breath of fresh air from the anonymity of my high school experience. ”

The second reason was the personalized attention he received from the admissions department. After being accepted, he was invited to join the first class of Richter Scholars during the summer before his freshman year.

“Being invited to the program sent a message about how the College personally evaluated my potential, in addition to being a recognition of what I had already achieved,” Hunt explained. “It made it feel as though my application had actually been read by someone and not sifted through filters. ”

The Richter Scholars took a course called “Ways of Knowing” throughout their first year. Each week, they learned about different disciplines from various professors, exploring how knowledge is acquired in academia. Initially, Hunt found this class esoteric but later realized its value in preparing him for post-college challenges.

“The class was a distillation of what you should gather over the course of your college lifetime, which is to learn interdisciplinarily so that no matter what challenges might befall you, you don’t get flustered because you know how to figure it out,” Hunt said.