From creating art to playing defense on the lacrosse team to managing a demanding academic workload, senior Luke Fougere does it all. 

Fougere began his journey in the arts early in his childhood, simply drawing in school notebooks. Inspired by his artistic sister, he pursued his abilities into middle and high school where he began attempting more difficult styles, such as oil painting. 

He paints detailed portraits and draws panoramic pieces that require an immense amount of focus, precision and skill. Regardless of its difficulty, Fougere describes his experience in the arts as restorative and creative. “I like to use a sketchbook that I bring everywhere,” he said. “I have a pen and I draw stuff around me to practice perspective. It’s really calming and very grounding.” 

At Oak Park and River Forest High School, he took Art Foundations going into freshman year, Sculpture his sophomore year and AP Studio Art his junior year. In AP Studio Art, the main objective is for students to create their own college-level art portfolio containing 15 thematically linked pieces as well as five pieces showing students’ best work and an artist statement. 

Tracy Van Duinen, Fougere’s teacher, described him as an impressive student. “He’s a very self-motivated kind of artist,” Van Duinen said. “He developed his own artistic style very early, but there was always the human form in his work. He was always looking to improve and do something different with his art.” 

AP Studio Art also includes class critiques, a part of the class at which Fougere thoroughly excelled, according to Van Duinen. “He was very good at contributing to them at a very high level,” Van Duinen said. “He’s just a nice kid in general, and hopefully art will be a part of his life for the rest of his life.”

While continuing his interest in painting and sketching, Fougere is also a part of the Boys Varsity Lacrosse team. He began lacrosse in elementary school and continued his athletic career in high school. Recognized for his strength, endurance and commitment, Fougere has played defense on the varsity team all four years of high school. 

In addition to being an All-Conference athlete, the highest accomplishment for student athletes, his sophomore and junior years, Head Coach Daniel Ganschow described Fougere as a “relentless player” who “can be a leader on the field.” 

Ganschow described him as “an athlete who has devoted himself to excellence in so many different realms of his life. I was excited to be a part of the coaching staff and be able to work with Luke. He embodies those different kinds of behaviors that a head coach wants to see in all of his athletes.”

Outside of lacrosse and visual arts, Fougere also has a passion for music. In addition to playing piano since elementary school, he began playing the guitar during the COVID-19 pandemic to fill his free time. During his sophomore year, he joined the North Grove band as a guitarist alongside his friends. The band focuses on indie rock with “a lot of funk influence,” Fougere said. Playing in the band is “a good way to communicate without talking,” adding that, “You learn a lot more about people when you play with them.” 

Besides his work with the band, he recently released an album of original acoustic songs on Spotify entitled “Firelogs.” 

Next year, Fougere is planning to attend the Illinois Institute of Technology to major in civil engineering and play lacrosse in college. Although he is not studying music in college, Fougere is excited to continue his independent study of music and visual arts in his free time while residing in the artistic city of Chicago.

To many students, having all of these hobbies and being accomplished in all of them, may seem like quite a challenging undertaking. Although Fougere has admitted to its difficulties, he said that if you are truly passionate about something, that is much more important. 

“I’m glad I have these things that I can turn to,” he said. “I probably wouldn’t be where I am today without art and music. My advice would be to focus on what you enjoy doing. If you really enjoy something, you will find time.”