Fra Noi Embrace Your Inner Italian
A photo of Jack Lamberti enhances the Lake Forest High School Wall of Excellence, honoring student athletes who exemplify outstanding performance, leadership, spirit, and sportsmanship. He captained the varsity golf and baseball team his senior year. He was a varsity player in both sports all four years of high school, during which he exemplified the grit and commitment that were an integral part of his Italian roots.
Jack is the great grandson of Franco Lamberti, who emigrated with his family from Italy in 1955. To Franco, the United States meant opportunity, jobs and a better future for his wife, children and generations to come. The family settled in Highwood, Illinois.
At 18 years old, the same age as Jack now, Franco was neither playing sports nor attending high school. He was helping his brothers and sisters work the family’s farm in a small mountain town high in the Apennines in northern Italy. Along with others his age — willing or unwilling — Franco was about to go to war in defense of Italy and Europe. After World War II and for many years thereafter, war-torn Italy confronted difficult times. Money was scarce and people there held little hope of prosperity.
The war had changed everything. Jack’s great-grandparents seriously contemplated leaving their beloved mountain home. They considered moving to a larger Italian city, but the entire country was in turmoil. Franco and his family set their sights on America.
The United States’ arms were wide open. Many Italians left their homes, their roots, and, in some cases, their immediate families with visions of a better future. Hope lifted them. For Jack’s great-grandparents, America was far and foreign, unfamiliar and disquieting. Then, transportation and communication were cumbersome and inconvenient. Yet, the family was willing to take their chances in exchange for a life that held such promise. Jack’s great-grandfather said it best: “We were ready to begin a new life in a new world, starting with nothing, without knowing the language, with many debts, but with so much hope and determination.”
The word adjacent to Jack’s picture on the mural is commitment. Franco’s commitment to his family — and, by extension, to future generations — paved the way for success and achievement in the land of opportunity. Franco’s emphasis on family values, work ethic and education has been transmitted through successive generations to Jack, who exhibits these very qualities. Jack’s great-grandparents’ selfless act of coming to America is everlasting and will continue to benefit future Lamberti generations.
Jack is now a freshman at Miami University of Ohio. His college plans include playing golf and pursuing a degree in economics.
