April 11, 2025
Every year, we seek additional members to join the MPA alumni board, and we recognize that you may or may not know what committing to the board entails. The board is perfect for those who want to connect further with the MPA community or give back to the school that gave them so much without a major time commitment. As a second-year board member, I am incredibly glad I chose to join the board and only wish I had joined sooner.
I’m here to share my experience by debunking a few common myths about joining the board:
Myth No. 1: I have to live in the Twin Cities
I have lived in two cities since joining the Board, neither of which are even located in the Midwest. While there are always alumni and school events you can attend (as a board member or not!) if you live locally, your participation on the board will be entirely virtual. I’ve Zoomed into our meetings from San Diego and New York City over the years and am grateful that I can participate from out of state.
Myth No. 2: I don’t have enough time to dedicate to the board
This was my biggest hesitation to join the board since my full-time job and personal life seemingly take up all of my time already. However, your only commitment is our every other month hour-and-a-half Zoom meeting, which includes both our all-committee meeting and our sub-committee breakouts so that you don’t need to attend multiple meetings. There are plenty of opportunities to dedicate more time and your talents through leadership positions and volunteering to support your committee’s initiatives, but the time you dedicate is flexible and customizable to your schedule.
Myth No. 3: I graduated too recently to be considered for the alumni board
For some reason, we assume there is a specific number of years after graduation before you can join an alumni board. However, the minute you graduate… you are an alum! We welcome alumni from all graduation years and actually prefer a wide variety of graduation years to keep our perspective fresh and multi-generational.
Myth No. 4: It’s just about raising money
Supporting the development office is only one of our many priorities. The goal of the board is to create and strengthen the connection between alumni and the current MPA community, and we want our board members to utilize their unique talents and experiences to uplift this goal. All board members are assigned to a sub-committee: philanthropy, community engagement, or marketing. As a marketing committee member, some of my current projects include collecting alumni updates for our Instagram, developing our newly launched LinkedIn group, and writing captions for our Facebook page. Notice how none of these require me to ask for money!
I hope you consider joining me on the MPA Alumni Board next year. Please reach out to me with any questions about my experience and reach out to Angela Gerstner at agerstner@moundsparkacademy.org if you’re interested in joining.
Isabel (McKeown) O’Branski ‘14
Alumni Board Member
