Alumni Archives

April 28, 2017

We are looking forward to seeing you at the Spring Auction at the Union Depot on Saturday, May 13! This event is expected to sell out, so if you have yet to purchase your tickets, please do so soon! Click here to purchase them online.

In addition to an evening of community building and entertainment, there will be several fabulous items up for auction! Here’s a preview of some of them …

Season tickets to MPA’s 2017-18 Theatre performances
A round of golf for your Upper or Middle School student and friends with Kari Kunze, Marisue Gleason, Renae Wantock, and Mark Segal
Children’s battery-powered Yamaha Raptor ATV
Premium craft beer basket

If you have any questions or would like more information, contact LaTasha St. Arnault, Director of Development and Community Engagement at 651-748-5532 or via email.

An MPA “Lifer” Dedicated to Saving Lives

April 20, 2017

As a Lower School student, some of Stephanie Eyerly-Webb’s ’03 favorite MPA moments were watching Upper School kids showcase their annual science contests, such as egg dropping, “flinking,” and building bridges. “This turned me on to science at an early age, and I looked forward to being able to do those projects myself, once I reached Upper School.” Science and math were some of her favorite subjects, and she credits teachers like Mr. Schwieger, Mr. Jensen, Mr. Shapiro, and Ms. Anderson with energizing her with great ideas and classroom projects.

Alumna Update: Christina Berget ’09

March 15, 2017

After graduating from Mounds Park Academy in 2009, I went to Saint Olaf College in Northfield, MN, where I graduated with a major in Human Resources. While at Saint Olaf, I designed my own major in HR using a variety of courses in the Management Studies, Psychology, and Sociology/Anthropology departments. I filled the rest of my schedule with Theater and Music classes, and enjoyed using the leadership skills developed through my major with actors in my Stage Directing classes. I also spent six months studying abroad through Saint Olaf’s Global Semester, where I took Global Psychology courses and spent time in Egypt, India, Thailand, Hong Kong, and South Korea. During the summers of my college career, I worked at summer day camp in Stillwater MN, Hidden Pines Ranch, where I found my true passion for working with children.

Washington D.C. Reunion

February 16, 2017

Please join Mounds Park Academy’s Head of School, Dr. Bill Hudson, former MPA teacher and administrator, Nansee Greeley, and Upper School Director, Mark Segal, at the D.C. Regional Reunion on March 3. Connect with fellow alumni and learn more about what’s happening at MPA! We hope you will be able to attend!

Friday, March 3
6 PM
Proper 21
1319 F Street NW,
Washington, D.C. 20004

Please RSVP to Susan Robertson, Development and Alumni Relations Coordinator, via email or on Facebook.

Alumna Update: Sirid Kellermann ’88

February 16, 2017

When Sirid Kellermann thinks back to her high school years, she reminisces about how fun it was to be part of one of the first graduating classes. “We were participating in a living experiment, helping to shape this new school,” she said.

MPA fostered an early sense of activism, and Sirid recalls participating in student-led campaigns that ranged from trivial (such as tirelessly lobbying that black jeans were NOT jeans and therefore didn’t violate dress code) to impactful (such as the successful “Buckle-Up” seatbelt safety campaign). She and her classmates were inspired to see that even as young people, they could affect change in the world.

Our Legacy Society Story

February 9, 2017

In honor of MPA’s Legacy Society Awareness month, we are happy to share this story from Nan Etzwiler and Dan 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.

Head’s Message: MPA’s Strengths Reconfirmed by Data

February 2, 2017

by Dr. Bill Hudson, Head of School

I asked a certain fifth grader what she liked best about MPA. Without missing a beat, she said, “The Head of School.” (I think she’s angling for an iPhone.) When I asked my daughter Ari again, she had a hard time deciding between her “caring teachers, the interesting classes she is taking, and her kind and curious classmates.”

With the exception of the Head of School comment, her responses are very similar to what I hear from parents, other students, and alumni every day. What I have come to know about MPA anecdotally, data has now reconfirmed. You may remember taking a survey before Winter Break administered by the Independent Schools Association of the Central States (ISACS), our accreditation association. We received the results this month and they are outstanding. I’d like to share some of the data and a few of my observations. Know that you will hear more over the next 12 months as the data shapes and informs the self-study report we will write for re-accreditation. Read More

Alumni Basketball Night

January 19, 2017

Thank you basketball alumni for another great Alumni Basketball Night! On December 26, the tradition lived on another year with a great turnout: Mark Miller ‘14, Austin Smith ‘12, Quintin Smith ‘13, Jacob Schwartz ‘09, Nate Bander ‘09, Matt Bander ‘11, Matt Miller ‘09, Adam Frudden ‘08, Ross Kigner ‘08, Rees Winga ‘16, Cole Montour ‘16, Eli Grabanski ‘16, Cooper Olson ‘16, Dylan Merchant ‘16, Jacqui Gray ‘16, Amin Mahamoud ‘16, David Omestad ‘09, Amir Nadimi ‘16, Peter Kieselbach ‘06.

Chicago Reunion

January 19, 2017

ChicagoCover Please join Mounds Park Academy’s Head of School, Dr. Bill Hudson, at the Chicago Regional Reunion on January 27. Connect with fellow alumni and learn more about what’s happening at MPA!

Where: Public House Chicago
400 N State St
Chicago, Illinois 60654
When: Friday, January 27 at 6PM

Please RSVP to Susan Robertson, Development and Alumni Relations Coordinator, via email or on Facebook.

Alumnus Update: Mark Holmquist ’08

January 19, 2017

MPA alumnus, Mark Holmquist ’08, is one of more than 200 worldwide employees of San Francisco-based Wikimedia Foundation, the nonprofit that operates Wikipedia and its many sister projects. Working remotely from his home in Saint Paul, Mark serves as a tech lead in multimedia and contributes to this important open-source global community with a mission to build “a world in which every single human being can freely share in the sum of all knowledge.” One of Mark’s passions is to help newer Wikimedia programmers as they gain their footing. He’s paying it forward in honor of the people who graciously took time to help him learn the ropes when he started several years ago.

Mark, who majored in computer science at Redlands College, also took core classes in government. He credits a few of his MPA teachers for supporting his passions in technology and government—specifically, Ms. Reardon-Offerman and the Tech Center (where he tinkered with technology), and Ms. Conway. About the latter, he said, “I don’t know how you could’ve taken a class from her and not been massively inspired.”

Asked, as a Wikimedia insider, what the rest of us should explore, Mark suggested a few cool sites: Wikivoyage (a travel web site), Wikibooks (and, specifically, the cookbook section—where his big contribution was a Lefse-from-scratch recipe that includes using a heritage grill).

Mark is willing to talk to MPA community members about programming and free, open source software. He’s a great example of how being smart, motivated, and generous can be woven into a fulfilling career. Connect with him via MPA’s Office of Alumni Relations.