April 22, 2025
This message is from MPA’s Office of Admission from the April 22 issue of Inside MPA. Click here to get in touch with Admission and learn more!
A few weeks ago, we shared the first video in our Head Of School Conversation series featuring both Dr. Bill Hudson and Dr. Lori-Anne Brogdon. They continue to work together closely as the head of school transition approaches in July, and we’re thrilled to share the second video in the series where they candidly talk about their work together.
Watch “A Head Of School Conversation: Teaching And Learning” here >
Set in the Makerspace, they cover the importance of curiosity, rigor with purpose, independent thinking, innovation, learning by doing, supportive teachers, and dreaming big.
“I think about soft skills that are now the necessary skills, and we talk a lot about challenge, and being able to fail, and being able to get picked back up again by those who are around you or even yourself,” says Dr. Brogdon. “We’re not willing to explore things that might seem scary or challenging if we don’t know somebody’s going to be around or that we have the stamina within us that someone has helped us to develop to move forward.”
“There’s the traditional definition of rigor–one that probably you and I grew up with–and then there’s the rigor that we talk about here at MPA,” Dr. Hudson adds. He then asks Dr. Brogdon to share her idea of rigor in MPA’s college prep environment.
“We want students to feel appropriately challenged. And so, what I really appreciate about the definition of rigor here is its ‘rigor with purpose.’ The purpose is for learning, to be a better human. When you’re stepping into a classroom, it should be challenging…but above all, you should be able to walk away and reflect and say, ‘I learned.’”
Stay tuned–there is one more Head Of School Conversation to come!
