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GSA Seeks Volunteers for PRIDE Festival, June 26-27

June 4, 2015

Screen Shot 2014-06-03 at 8.08.31 AMGreetings to the MPA community!

As the school year comes to a close, MPA’s Gay-Straight Alliance is gearing up for the 42nd annual Twin Cities Pride Festival. We are looking for volunteers to help run MPA’s booth at this event, which will be held in Loring Park, Minneapolis on Saturday, June 26th and Sunday, June 27th. The booth provides a wonderful avenue for MPA to reach out to the broader community, and for all of us to celebrate MPA’s welcoming spirit.

We would love to have a mix of faculty, administration, parents, alumni, and students of all ages at the event!

If you would like to volunteer, please click here to register for a shift (or multiple, if desired). An email will be sent out to all volunteers as the event weekend approaches with detailed information about our booth location, parking, and what to expect while working at the festival.

For more information on the festival, visit Pride’s website by clicking here.

Thank you for your time, and have a wonderful summer!

-The MPA Gay-Straight Alliance

2015 Upper School Award Recipients

June 4, 2015

ACADEMICS
National Honor Society Inductees
Ellen Colton
Marguerite Devens
Matthew Ehren
Logan Erickson
Isabel Esch
Evan Ferlic
Michelle Galbavy
Andrew Grant
Madeline Honda
Munira Khalif
Emily Rhodes
Emma Stacy
Abby Wold

Valedictorian
Ellen Colton

Salutatorian
Munira Khalif

Read More

Board Corner 5/28/15

May 27, 2015

We want to provide an update on the school’s new trustees and chair-elect, the implementation of the school’s Strategic Plan, and the Board’s Enterprise Risk Management Committee.

New Trustees and Board Chair–Elect!   We are pleased to announce that the Board voted as new trustees MPA parents Carolina Del Solar, Steve Arsenault, Karen Kozen-Lien, Rahoul Ghose and Matt Larson. Together they bring a wealth of skills in finance, strategic planning, change management, risk assessment and development. All are strong leaders: Rahoul, Matt and Steve were important members of the school’s Strategic Planning Committee last year, Carolina has served with boards of two international schools, and Karen has strong educational background and is on the executive board of the Parents Association. We are grateful they are willing to serve our community. The Board also elected current trustee, Board Treasurer and Finance Committee Brent Peacock as Chair-Elect. Brent will assist Nan and Tamra during their last year as co-chairs, and assume the full chairmanship in one year. Thank you and congratulations, Brent!

Remember that the Board’s Governance Committee (contact Beth Finch) accepts nominations at any time of those who might be considered for the Board or for work on a board committee and other strategic committees of the school. The Board’s Governance Committee actively begins its review of all candidates each year after winter break and considers, among other things, candidates’ professional competencies, leadership qualities, and diversity, broadly defined.

Enterprise Risk Management. As we reported in our last Board Corner, the Board established this year its Enterprise Risk Management Committee to systematically (i) consider the likelihood of occurrence and potential impact of significant risks to the school’s mission, reputation and/or existence, and (ii) establish a regular review of the school’s current plans to prevent these risks or manage them were they to occur. The ERM Committee and Dr. Hudson have selected the following risks for general review over the next year: data security, on-campus safety from intruders, student safety while on trips, insurance coverage, and MPA’s human resources processes.

Strategic Plan Implementation. The Board recently reviewed and endorsed Dr. Hudson’s Strategic Plan Implementation Plan. Please be sure to watch for a comprehensive article in the about-to-be launched MPA Magazine. Dr. Hudson and many MPA faculty and staff members will be leading many of the implementation initiatives, and parents and others in our community may be invited to serve on task forces. Please be open to serving if asked….the school needs to draw on all of its talent and passion! Over the next year or so, you will see how most of MPA’s major initiatives are tied to this important plan, which addresses the school’s vision for 21st century learning, support for our faculty and staff, and how we continue to secure the financial strength and growth of MPA’s resources.

Have a great summer!

Nan Etzwiler and Tamra Anderson

Co-Chairs, MPA Board of Trustees

MPA Board Corner

April 30, 2015

As with all other aspects of MPA, the Board’s work wraps up in a flurry each spring! We’d like to share a few updates with you.

New MPA Strategic Plan. We are excited that by the end of the school year Dr. Hudson will be communicating to you in greater detail the school’s new Strategic Plan that was passed by the Board this year. Please take time to consider the three overarching priorities:

  • Empower Students To Live, Learn and Thrive in the Globalized 21st Century
  • Inspire and Affirm Our Exceptional Faculty and Staff
  • Enhance Institutional Capacity to Ensure MPA’s Future

as well as the very thoughtful, and supporting prongs and implementation plans that reflect your input: from goals about exploring innovative ways to teach and learn in the 21st century, to enhanced diversity and students services, to those on enriching staff/faculty teaching and their total compensation/HR resources.

We hope you have felt heard. Thank you for the meaningful contributions to the focus groups so many of you made.

Enterprise Risk Management. This year the board created a new “Enterprise Risk Management” Committee whose charge is to systematically identify with the Head of School those potential, significant risks to the school’s mission, reputation and/or existence, and to consider their relative likelihood of occurrence and potential impact.

The ERM Committee then works with the Head of School to communicate the Board’s sense of acceptable risk and works to secure any needed resources for the school. Categories of enterprise risks for any independent school include:

  • operational
  • financial
  • strategic
  • reputational
  • involve health and safety

Specific risks might be fire, an intruder, a public health epidemic, the sudden loss of a Head of School, inadequate endowment funding to support a school’s mission, or an accident on a school trip.

The ERM Committee is completing its prioritization and selection of the top 4-5 areas of review, and Dr. Hudson and his Admin team will assess these and report regularly to the Committee on the strategic approaches to manage such risks.

Departing Trustees. Spring is also when we say goodbye to our valued trustees who are rotating off the Board. As you see them, please take time to thank Jenean Cordon, Dana Boyle, Courtenay Brown, Bill Seymour and Natalie Waters Seum for their incredible service. We are also equally thankful for the long contributions made by trustees Lynn Berning and Michael Miller who departed the Board earlier this board year. All these trustees volunteer their time and strengths to making our school thrive for our children and we are so grateful for their contributions and dedication! New trustees and the Chair-Elect will be announced in our next Board Corner in late May.

 

 

Nan Etzwiler and Tamra Anderson
MPA Board of Trustees Co-Chairs

MPA Senior Munira Khalif Accepted by All Eight Ivy League Schools

April 9, 2015

Munira Khalif, a senior at Mounds Park Academy (MPA), has achieved the rare honor of being accepted by all eight Ivy League schools, plus Stanford, Georgetown and the University of Minnesota.

“I was very surprised. The best part for me was being able to call family members on the phone and to hear their excitement. This was truly a blessing from God. To me this news is reflective of the support and encouragement of my family, my school and my community,” said Khalif.

In addition to her stellar academic record, rigorous course load, and high ACT score, Khalif is a state speech champion, and founder and leader of MPA’s Social Consciousness Club. She also founded Lighting the Way, a non-profit campaign, to make education accessible for East African youth, especially girls, by focusing on scholarships, building libraries, and mitigating sanitation issues.
Khalif has served as a teen ambassador and advocate with Girl Up, a campaign of the United Nations Foundation that mobilizes American girls to take action on behalf of their counterparts in other countries. Khalif was also appointed as A World at School Global Youth Ambassador, working to promote universal education. For her work as a young education activist, she was one of nine young people from around the world to receive the UN Special Envoy for Global Education’s Youth Courage Award.

“Munira has thrived in MPA’s rigorous educational environment, where we challenge students to be intellectually curious and confident communicators,” said Randy Comfort, MPA’s upper school director. “She already is making a difference in communities across the globe, and I know she is ready to embrace the challenges that arise in our constantly changing world.”
Lisa Pederson, director of college counseling at MPA, added, “I believe Munira has great potential to affect change on the world stage, given her combination of intelligence, sensitivity, powerful internal drive, practical skills and charisma. She interacts positively with people of different backgrounds, opposing viewpoints and ignorance.” 2 Munira Khalif

“I am humbled to even have the opportunity to choose amongst these schools because they are all incredible places to learn and grow,” said Khalif. She has not yet made a final college choice. Khalif will make a few more campus visits before making her decision by May 1. She plans to major in political science and continue working to make a positive impact on the world through public service.

The eight Ivy League schools are Brown University, Columbia University, Cornell University, Dartmouth College, Harvard University, the University of Pennsylvania, Princeton University and Yale University.

Head’s Message – 2/26/15

February 26, 2015

“The mind is not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be kindled.”
— Plutarch

I’ve been traveling the last several days to attend to some professional responsibilities. In the midst of moving through airports and boarding planes, I watched a movie that helped take my mind off the fact that my 6’4″ frame was squished in a seat better suited for a third grader. In any case, the movie, an action/thriller called “Lucy”, was no Oscar contender, but it did help pass the time. The movie was built around the premise that humans use only 10% of our brain. While the plot was convoluted and silly in its depiction of the other 90%, I was left thinking about how effective today’s schools are in actualizing the full potential of the human mind -as well as a recent faculty discussion on rigor.

Many people define education as content and academic rigor. But simply filling our brains with information is not enough. The “drill and kill” and “command and control” method of education will not generate the kinds of leaders necessary for today’s world. Academic rigor is more than just content, difficult tests, busy work, or piling on more homework. Standardized education, high-stakes testing and a narrow curriculum short-change our children. According to Harvard Professor Richard Elmore, 80-85% of work that students do in classes today is focused on factual recall and low level procedural thinking.

 

Academic content and rigor are important but there are a number of other skills and competencies that are crucial today. According to author Tony Wagner, Co-director of the Change Leadership Group at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, there are seven to be exact:

  1. Critical thinking and problem solving
  2. Collaboration and leadership
  3. Agility and adaptability
  4. Initiative and entrepreneurialism
  5. Effective oral and written communication
  6. Accessing and analyzing information
  7. Curiosity and imagination

It is my experience that a combination of several of these elements are in play in MPA classrooms each day. In our quest to meet our mission and serve the needs of today’s students, teachers at MPA strive to create learning experiences that promote active learning, meaningful content, higher order thinking and appropriate expectations.

MPA Board of Trustees: Nominations Sought For School Committees and Board of Trustees

February 26, 2015

Each year, the Governance Committee of MPA’s Board of Trustees identifies, considers and invites a small number of people within the MPA community to become new trustees. In soliciting and evaluating nominees, the Board seeks to match the board’s needs with the nominees’ professional and leadership skills, as well as broad personal, cultural and experience backgrounds. Prior to becoming trustees, many members first served in various capacities at MPA, such as on school committees, committees of the Board, in the Parents Association or in other volunteer positions where they have been able to demonstrate and share their capabilities, personal experiences and leadership skills.

The Board continuously seeks to broaden the diversity of experience and background of its membership.   In addition, this year it seeks to identify, among other things, those with professional capabilities in the areas of development, finance, education, and strategic risk management. If you know someone who might be a strong candidate for either the board or other school committees – or you personally are interested – please complete and submit the Nomination Questionnaire to Beth Averbeck (Beth.M.Averbeck@HealthPartners.com) by no later than Friday, March 13, 2015. The Governance Committee of the Board will be reviewing and vetting nomination during and after spring break, and bringing a slate of candidates to the full Board for consideration at its spring meeting.

A detailed explanation of the Board’s work and a description of the Board’s active committees work – as well as the Nomination Questionnaire – can be found on the Board of Trustees MPA webpage.

Feel free to contact any member of the Board’s Governance Committee if you have any questions: Beth Averbeck, Nan Etzwiler, Tamra Anderson, Chris Jesmer, Allan Flinn, Beth Finch and Dan Shapiro. Their contact information can be found in the MPA on-line Community Directory.

MPA Talks: Come Together, Gain Perspective, Be Inspired.

February 23, 2015

Wednesday, March 11th
5:00 PM Reception in the GalleryScreen Shot 2015-02-24 at 10.40.53 AM
5:45 PM Doors open to the Nicholson Center
6-7   PM Featured Speakers

Join us for the inaugural MPA Talks, featuring thoughtful presentations by some of our community’s most intriguing members. This speaker series is designed to bring the community together to gain new perspectives from our finest stories. Your heart will be warmed and your brain inspired while celebrating a shared love for MPA.

At this year’s event, you will hear four featured speakers:

  • Simin Saba Royesh is an international student from Afghanistan and member of the Class of 2015. Simin will share her journey from Pakistan, where her family was fleeing Taliban rule, to high school in Afghanistan to studying at Mounds Park Academy. She now dreams of becoming the first female president of Afghanistan. She will also share her passionate perspective on women’s rights and her desire to change the common perception of women from wives, mothers and sisters to human beings.
  • Dr. Keith Harding is an atmospheric scientist at the University of Minnesota and member of the MPA Class of 2003. In his research Keith uses regional climate models and climate observations to investigate the impact of climate change on Midwestern summer rainfall and heavy precipitation events, land-atmosphere interactions, and the Great Plains Low-Level Jet. He will share his research and thoughts about climate change in the Midwest.
  • Brianna Powers is a prolific creative writer and member of the Class of 2010. With a career in writing for the gaming industry, she is also a writer of traditional forms including novel-length works and flash fiction within the genres of surrealism, fantasy, horror and science fiction. She will share how MPA helped her succeed in the competitive industry of creative writing and give us a glimpse inside the video game industry.
  • Brian Boyle is an MPA parent from the Class of 2027. Most of Brian’s professional life has been spent in manufacturing, specifically industrial baking and contract packaging. He is a the co-owner of an industrial baking company where he started working as a teenager, in addition to a private label ice cream manufacturer. ‎As a vocal advocate of the maker movement, Brian will share his perspective on innovation and the related skills our children need for the future.

We hope you will join us for this spectacular evening as our speakers bring MPA’s mission to life.

No RSVP is required.

Head’s Message • January 29th, 2015

January 28, 2015

I stepped in front of a near-capacity crowd in the newly renovated Recital Hall Monday night to sing the praises of MPA to very enthusiastic prospective families at our winter open house. I began by acknowledging that we benefit from a number of good public, charter, private and independent schools. However, I told the crowd that there is no other school like MPA in the Twin Cities. We stand alone, offering a unique education that I believe is exactly what students need in today’s world.

That message is being noticed by and resonating with many.

The next few kindergarten play visits are full and we scheduling as far out as May for families considering enrolling in kindergarten. The number of families entering the admission process is up significantly as are the number of applications we have received. Several grade levels are approaching capacity. It is clear that there is a great deal of momentum heading into the admission and re-enrollment season.

Here are a few promising statistics:

  • We had 43 students represented at our most recent Admission Preview, a 122% increase over last year;
  • Year to date, we have the highest number of new student inquiries and applications in three years;
  • The highest percentage of inquiry to application conversion in three years, double what it was three years ago.

There are several reasons that explain our early success, including:

  1. A very strategic marketing plan that includes online, print, radio (Minnesota Public Radio), and community partnerships;
  2. A highly competent (and competitive!) Admission Team;
  3. Well trained and articulate student ambassadors;
  4. A rigorous and increasingly relevant curriculum;
  5. Exceptional faculty and staff;
  6. A great parent community, both willing and motivated to reach out to friends, neighbors, and colleagues to speak about their experience at MPA.

Thank you for all you do to make MPA such a special place. In particular, I appreciate your efforts in spreading the good news about MPA. As a friend and school head visiting from California remarked to me after a tour of MPA, “Who wouldn’t want their child here?” Exactly!

 

MPA Parents Association – Family Service Night

January 20, 2015

The MPA Community will be partnering with ImpactLives to experience first-hand service learning while building leadership skills. If you were at last year’s event you know the powerful results of this dynamic activity!

During this exclusive service opportunity we will be packing meals that will be sent internationally to families in need. At 5:00 pm we will start with a brief presentation.  Following the presentation we will start packing meals, with a goal of 5,000 meals packed in the night!

Please feel free to pack snacks or dinner for your family to eat during the presentation.  The MPA first graders will be offering lemonade for purchase during your dinner; their service learning project is helping to fight childhood cancer by supporting Alex’s Lemonade Stand.

There will be a limited number of spots available for this opportunity so registration will be required. Please go to the Mounds Park Academy Community Bulletin Board to register by following this link: www.moundsparkacademy.org/familyservice2015

To learn more about ImpactLives and the 2.3 Million meals they provided in one year alone click on the following link: https://www.impactlives.org.

You can learn more about Alex’s Lemonade Stand and the amazing ways they are supporting childhood cancer research by clicking on the following link: https://www.alexslemonade.org

Thursday, January 29th

5:00 – 7:00 pm

Registration Required

Mounds Park Academy Cafeteria

Please direct any questions to Amy Hawley, Family Service Night Event Chair at amyh66@ comcast.net