January 22, 2025
This message is from MPA’s Office of Admission from the January 22 issue of Inside MPA. Click here to get in touch with Admission and learn more!
The full-circle moment of welcoming alumni back when they bring their own children to MPA is very special. As such a young school, we’ve started to see an upward trend of alumni bringing their children to MPA in recent years. And because the fabric of our alumni community is so unique, we hear a lot of different reasons why; joyful memories of their time here, aligning values, an overall feeling of home, and crediting MPA for preparing them for the world.
“A lot of who I am and who I came to be started in this building and continues to stay with me today,” says Spencer Butts, a class of 1999 MPA alum. “I’ve seen both of my boys, since they’ve been at MPA, learn better study habits and learn how to challenge themselves without being prompted. I think their self-confidence–socially and academically–has changed and improved. MPA really beautifully walks along that fence of making sure that students understand that rigor is an important part of life. But, I think it’s also understood that you have to be able to understand failure to succeed at the end of the day.” This is why Spencer chose MPA for his children.
Like Spencer, our alumni have had transformative experiences at MPA, and they want their children to benefit from the same environment that shaped their own growth–both academically and personally. Alumni returning, and bringing the next generation with them, reflects the lasting impact MPA strives to have on students for a lifetime.
