All School Archives

MPA Board Of Trustees Seeking Nominations

February 19, 2020

MPA’s Board of Trustees collaborates with the Head of School to guide the school’s strategic direction, to protect its mission, to support the school’s development efforts and to safeguard the school’s financial stability.

Nominations for Trustees
We are pleased to share that the Governance Committee of the Board is launching its annual process to identify potential trustees.

If you, or someone you know, could be a strong contributor to the MPA Board of Trustees, please provide the name of your nominee and a short description of their experience and background, directly to Wendy Marko Odeen, Trustee and Governance Chair, MPA Board of Trustees at wendy.odeen@ellester.com.

In addition to strong leadership skills, nominees will bring a broad diversity of experience and backgrounds, and a passion to advance the mission of MPA. Areas of desired professional experience include: finance, accounting, investment, banking, business, communications, construction, education, law, governance, scientific training, the arts, IT, human resources, strategic planning, development, marketing, and community service, among others. Read More

The 2020 Book Festival Wants Your Help!

February 19, 2020

Save the date! The MPA Book Festival is April 20-22 this year, and is open to all students and families. Book Festival Family Night will be held April 22, 3-6 PM. Come join us for an evening of crafts, activities, dinner, and of course an opportunity for book buying! Our theme is “MPA ComicCon.” What that means is that in addition to having a wide variety and assortment of books for sale, we will also have a specific focus on Graphic Novels and Comics. Did you know that a Graphic Novel won the Newberry Awards for the 2020 for the first time ever? And we chose our theme way back in 2019!

Get in on the ground flow to determine how we manifest this theme across the school! Contact Erin Dimopoulos at erindimopoulos@gmail.com. We are looking for volunteers to help with crafts, activities and decor. Help spread the joy of reading!

Our Legacy Society Story

February 13, 2020

Nan Etzwiler, Dan O’Neill, and Laura O’Neill

Since our daughter, Laura, started at MPA in 2005 in its first PreK class, MPA has been joyful, enriching, and stimulating for her—and for us! From pillowcase poems to building 3-D digestive systems, from memorizing Chaucer to crafting a competitive speech, we are grateful to the incredibly skilled and caring faculty we have known in each division. As parents, we have also had the opportunity to volunteer at MPA in various capacities and have seen close-up how thoughtfully the mission of the school is borne out through curriculum, character-building, and extracurricular activities. MPA is a place that speaks to the both the ‘head’ and the ‘heart’ of everyone who passes through it.

In recognition of the rich mission of the school, and its strong leadership and staff, we have included MPA in our estate plans for three reasons. Most important, MPA has played a critical role and had a sustained presence in
our lives for many years—and its impact on our family will continue for decades to come. Second, prioritizing our giving and including MPA in our estate planning have been ways for us to talk with our daughter about not only the importance of giving, but the joy of it. She has a growing appreciation for the fun and importance of leaving something behind for others.

Finally, through tax planning we have been able to maximize the impact of our gifts today and later. Working with MPA’s Development Office to denote MPA as an estate beneficiary was easy and quick. We hope one day that our legacy gift can help sustain MPA so that generations of students to come might thrive and soar just as our daughter has. We encourage you to reach out to MPA’s Development Office to consider including MPA in your legacy planning, too.

Congratulations To Alpine Skiers At State

February 13, 2020

Congratulations to our Panther skiers who competed in the Alpine State meet at Giants Ridge!

Senior Emma Finch placed 38th out of 86 competitors. Her first run time was :45.24, her second was :30.03, with a final of 1:24.27.

Freshman Margo Nightingale placed 53rd out of 86 competitors. Her first run time was :44.04, her second was :41.53, and finished with 1:25.57.

Sophomore Isak Nightingale placed 26th out of 88 competitors. His first run time was :39.72, his second was :37.29, finishing with a final of 1:17.01.

Great job, Panthers!

Be A Career Panelist To Help Students Dream Big

February 12, 2020

College Counseling and the Upper School Advisory program are teaming up to provide career exploration opportunities for students! We are looking for MPA parents and alumni to share information about their careers with students who are starting to imagine where their talents could take them.

We plan to offer six different “career cluster” panels during Advisory meetings. Speakers will volunteer either Wednesday, April 8 or Wednesday, April 15 (time commitment roughly 10:45 AM to 12:30 PM). On each date, three different panels will be offered, featuring people presenting about their jobs, the paths that led to their current positions, and taking student questions.

If you are interested in being a panelist OR getting involved in future career programming, please complete our brief survey or contact Andrea Kaltved in College Counseling at akaltved@moundsparkacademy.org. Read More

Parent Education: How To Listen To Your Kids

February 12, 2020

Mounds Park Academy is sponsoring the workshop “How to Listen to Your Kids: Learn skills that encourage your kids to tell you everything” to help parents create better communication with their kids. Led by life purpose coach Paul Boehnke, it is open to all parents, whether your children attend MPA or not. The workshop is free and coffee, tea, fruit, and pastries will be provided. Join us Friday, February 21 from 8-9:30 AM in the Porter Conference Room at MPA, 2051 Larpenteur Avenue east, St. Paul, MN.

“Do you ever have power struggles? Do you wonder what’s really going on at school? Wish you had better relationships with your children? The skills I learned as a professional coach completely changed how I related to my own son. Now I’ll share those same skills with you so you can experience the openness, honesty and love you’ve always envisioned,” says Paul.

“I’ve led this workshop in a number of places and attendees have given it rave reviews. You’ll learn skills usually only professionals learn and have a chance to practice these skills before you try them out in the wild, at home.”

A Message From Brenna Bray ’02

February 11, 2020

Fellow Alumni, MPA has provided us with a trampoline! For many of us, MPA has provided a safe launching pad that catapults us into action. We have been able to “launch” towards our dreams with the knowledge that we have a net that will catch us softly if we fall. The metaphorical trampoline gains its strength from the MPA community: our teachers pushed us to dream big and take actions; our colleagues inspire us to do right and remind us of who we are and where we come from. MPA gains its strength from its community, and that includes you!

The MPA Alumni Association leverages alumni successes to inspire future generations Panther prodigies; this requires us to keep tabs on our alumni. Please provide updates–big or small–on your whereabouts! Have you moved? Do you have a new e-mail address or phone number? Have you experienced a life event or a career change? We want to know about it! Your achievements can inspire the next generation of Panthers to dream big, do right, and give back in turn.

Alumni Mentorship Making A Lifelong Impact

February 11, 2020

More pairs of MPA seniors and alumni mentors have been eager to share their positive experiences and connections through the MPA Mentorship Program and how it has continued to inspire them. In just its second year, a historic number of alumni participated, outnumbering the current senior class! Mentees and mentors were matched based on interests, hobbies, career goals, and college choice. See all of the photos from the networking event here!

“MPA’s mentorship program has given me a chance to learn so much information about my dream of becoming a pilot that I cannot get from the internet. I cannot describe how excited and happy I was on the first day of the mentorship program,” said MPA senior Lyndon Lyu ’20. “We started to write an email to our mentors, and I was so lucky to be paired up with Matt, who is a professional pilot. Being a pilot has been my dream since I can remember. When I was told that I was paired with a real pilot, I was like a little boy seeing his hero. In the many emails between Matt and me, mine were always so long because I had so many questions about aviation. I knew I could ask Matt anything because he knows almost everything about my dream, and for this reason, our email progress was always far ahead of the program required timeline. Thank you to MPA for arranging the mentor meeting in our new Family Commons. Meeting with Matt might be the best thing that has happened to me this year. Matt was very nice and helpful, and he told me every step that I need to do in order to be a pilot in the future. He is even willing to introduce me to some airlines after I get my pilot’s license. For all of these reasons, I am so thankful to MPA’s mentorship program, and I really appreciate Matt’s help and the time that he spent with me on this program.” Read More

MPA Students Share Their Voices On Podcast

February 6, 2020

As part of Design For Change’s Earth Day Network Plastic Pollution Design Sprint, two MPA Kindergarten students and Ms. Koen were featured in a blog post and on one of their podcast episodes! The Kindergarten students’ recent project selling reusable canvas grocery bags at Kowalski’s Market gave them the knowledge and confidence to take what they learned about preserving the environment, eliminating plastic use, and global citizenship on air. Take a listen to what they have to say here!

While you listen, take a look at the Design For Change blog post, “A Look Behind the Scenes: Collaborating with Earth Day Network,” to see photos of the MPA Kindergarteners putting their passion to work. The blog expresses the importance of youth involvement, stating that “the biggest leaders in this fight are young people.” Right below that powerful statement is an image of MPA Kindergarteners marching into the Upper School commons to talk about why their efforts to save sea turtles and ocean life is so important. Further down in the story is another photo of MPA fifth grader Brooklynn J. beaming with her Kindergarten buddy while holding up the canvas bag they made in the Makerspace. Read More

Three Panthers Move On To State

February 6, 2020

Congratulations to MPA’s Alpine Skiers! The girls team placed sixth out of 17 teams and the boys team placed ninth out of 17 teams in the Section 4A Meet at Wild Mountain. MPA Senior Emma Finch, MPA freshman Margo Nightingale, and MPA sophomore Isak Nightingale have advanced as individuals and will participate at the State Meet next week at Giants Ridge. Let’s go, Panthers!