October 8, 2015
If you are headed to the movie theater this month to see smash hit Hotel Transylvania 2, look for MPA alumni Tom Kanter’s name in the credits! Tom, MPA class of 2008, studied Animation and Digital Arts at the University of Southern California. He has worked at Sony Pictures Digital and Hasbro Studios. Hotel Transylvania 2 is his first feature-length credit. Congratulations, Tom!
(Photo courtesy of IMDB, Sony Pictures Animation, Inc.)
October 8, 2015
MPA alum Mason Ferlic (Class of 2011) was named the NCAA Division I Men’s Athlete of the Week this week! Ferlic, who is senior co-captain of the 10th-ranked University of Michigan men’s cross country team, is the first in the Michigan cross country program’s history to receive this honor, after winning the Greater Louisville Classic on October 3. Read more about Mason’s accomplishments. Congratulations, Mason!
(Photo courtesy of Univerity of Michigan, www.mgoblue.com)
Strong connections are forged at MPA
September 14, 2015
Mary Cooper Barsness, formerly Mary Bosch, taught middle school language arts and social studies at MPA from 1996-2000. When her son was born in 2000, Mary left MPA to raise him. However, you never really leave MPA behind, as the connections you make with the MPA community are strong and lasting.
In July of 2014, Mary’s son Willi, who was 14 at the time, fell off a longboard and fractured his skull. His injuries were life-threatening. Now, Willi is on the mend and recovering from his accident. Mary and Willi are now encouraging everybody to wear a helmet and have begun a campaign called “No Helmet No Ride.” Mary is making an impact on the lives of skaters by educating them about the importance of helmets and safety.
Mary also made an impact on the lives of other MPA students far beyond her years as a teacher. Annie Potish and Melissa (Goldberg) Dahlberg (Class of ’07), wrote an alumni profile in 2013. Both teachers now themselves, they mentioned Mary (Mrs. Bosch) as an inspiration in their reflection on their time at MPA. Mary, after reading Annie and Melissa’s profile and after her son’s accident, was reminded again of the strength and depth of MPA connections, replying, “That makes me cry. I feel humbled and proud. … Do you remember the quilt you all made for him? I still have it. I had it brought up here. He used to love it so much. When he was in a coma I talked to him about it and told him it was on him. You all wrapped him in your love. That class of kids that I had when I became a mother sticks with me so strongly. Being pregnant through that year changed how I felt about teaching. You were all my kids. Always will be.”
September 14, 2015
Pakou Hang, founder and executive director of the Hmong American Farmers Association and MPA graduate (Class of 1995), is a great inspiration to her family and community and a glowing proponent of the importance of education. She was recently featured in the Minnesota Women’s Press. Read more about Pakou and her journey.
(Photo courtesy of Mike Hazard, Minnesota Women’s Press)
September 14, 2015
Jesse Golfis, professional fine artist and MPA graduate (Class of 1996), assisted muralist Yuya Negishi with a new work, titled “Birth of a New Day” on Snelling Avenue in St. Paul. The mural appears as part of Midway Murals, a project aimed at revitalizing the Hamline Midway neighborhood by way of Snelling Avenue. The finished murals, produced in collaboration with the business owners who live and work in the area, was officially unveiled at the Midway Art Festival in St. Paul. Read about the mural project.
(Photo courtesy of Jonathan Oppenheimer, City Pages)
October 22, 2014
Love Your Melon — co-founded by MPA Alumnus Zach Quinn (’11) and fellow St. Thomas University student Brian Keller — is a non-profit with a vision to help children with cancer smile and give them hope for the future. For every “Love Your Melon” hat they sell, a child with cancer will receive a hat as well. On October 22nd, 2014, they will celebrate the first official Love Your Melon Day, raising awareness for childhood cancers and donating over 1,000 hats to children in hospitals around the country.
Zach credits his time at MPA for his drive to have a positive impact on those around him. “Mounds Park Academy instilled in me the belief that my purpose on this planet is to do as much as I can to help make others lives better. I’ve always had an entrepreneurial spirit, and with Love Your Melon I have found a way to combine those two passions.”
MPA alumni are compassionate, kind, motivated, and determined to make a difference in the world. We are so proud of Zach Quinn (’11) and the success that Love Your Melon has found.
From the Love Your Melon Website:
The events of Love Your Melon Day on October 22nd, 2014 will raise awareness for childhood cancers and promote the importance of therapeutic treatment programs. Through Awareness Drivers, Inspiration Events on college and university campuses, and Donation Events at children’s hospitals and Ronald McDonald Houses, we will motivate communities to get involved in making a difference. With the donations raised, we will fund therapeutic entertainment programs for children’s hospitals and Ronald McDonald Houses nationwide that provide comfort to childhood cancer patients and improve their quality of life.
Follow the Love Your Melon Day blog.
Love Your Melon day has official proclamations from Governors in five different states, in addition to proclamations from Mayors in nine other cities nationwide.
Governor Mark Dayton (State of Minnesota)
Governor Scott Walker (State of Wisconsin)
Governor Jay Nixon (State of Missouri)
Governor Pat Quinn (State of Illinois)
Governor Terry Branstad (State of Iowa)
Alumna Katie Parker (’04) Signs Cookbook Deal
October 10, 2013
MPA Alumna Katie Parker, author of the popular vegetarian cooking blog, Veggie and the Beast, has received and accepted a cookbook offer. It will be released in September of next year.
Katie notes, “I started Veggie and the Beast in November 2011 as an outlet for my food obsession, ever-evolving love of food photography, and constant desire to be writing. I’m thankful everyday for MPA’s inspiring, witty, and thoughtful teachers. My time at MPA not only built my writing skills, but also gave me the confidence to share my stories and recipes, and pursue my dream of writing a cookbook.“
Congratulations, Katie!
MPA Alumnus Launches Kickstarter to Fund Musical Breakthrough
July 29, 2013
MPA Class of 2000 alumnus Andrew McPherson was recently featured in an article in New Scientist magazine for his breakthrough musical invention called TouchKeys. Developed by a team led by McPherson of technicians, composers, and musicians at Queen Mary, University of London, TouchKeys allows pianists to create various sounds on a keyboard such as vibrato and pitch blends. “Each key is fitted with a set of 26 sensors that work much like a smartphone’s touchscreen to detect touch,” the article explains. “The sensors know exactly where a finger has been placed, letting the player experiment with sounds.”
McPherson, who attended Mounds Park Academy from kindergarten through graduation, is now an electronic engineer, composer, and Assistant Professor in Digital Media at Queen Mary University of London. He builds new ‘augmented instruments’ which extend the expressive capabilities of familiar instruments. In addition to the TouchKeys, he is the creator the magnetic resonator piano, an electromagnetically-augmented acoustic grand piano used in projects with the London Chamber Orchestra and the album ‘Field of Reeds’ by These New Puritans. Prior to joining QMUL, Andrew completed his undergraduate and Master’s work in music and engineering at MIT, a PhD in composition at the University of Pennsylvania, and a postdoc at Drexel University.
McPherson is seeking funding to begin producing TouchKeys sensor kits through a Kickstarter campaign that launched today. Watch McPherson’s video on TouchKeys and support his project here.
More about Andrew McPherson:
Fringe Festival Show Features MPA Alumni Playwriting, Acting, Producing & Directing
July 25, 2013
MPA Class of 2013 alumna Kimberly Rolfs is producing and directing a show, Stardust, in the Minnesota Fringe Festival this August 1-11. The play was originally written for the one-act assignment in MPA’s Creative Writing class last fall. Starring in the play are Class of 2013 alumni Chrissy Saul, Sam Arsenault, and Jackson Beck. Callan Schackor (’13) is the stage manager.
Stardust is a story that picks up after the suicide of an enigmatic girl. The two boys she loved and left behind attempt to decipher who she was, what they meant to her and how they should feel now that she’s gone.
Please consider attending and supporting these MPA recent graduates! For more information on the show click here. Please note that the show deals with adult themes and language.
MPA Alumn Develops State-of-the-Art Carbon Fiber Lacrosse Sticks
May 15, 2013
The following article about Mounds Park Academy Class of 2013 alumnus Charlie Igo was published in the White Bear Press on May 7, 2013. View the original version here.
WHITE BEAR LAKE — Strength and flexibility are considered positive assets for an athlete playing lacrosse. They are also two of the fundamental characteristics being engineered into Charlie Igo’s state-of-the-art lacrosse sticks.
Possessing first-hand knowledge of the sport as a player, he has spent the last two years studying and refining the production of carbon-fiber sticks specifically for lacrosse. Using machinery that he built from scratch (with some help welding from his father Mike), he has been producing his Redline M4 Carbon brand lacrosse sticks out of a second-floor shop at the White Bear Boat Works facility near Little Goose Lake for about a year.
A 2005 graduate of Mounds Park Academy, he attended the Schulze School of Entrepreneurship at the University of St. Thomas. While in college, he developed a specific interest in carbon fiber during an internship at HED cycle (Company founder Steve Hed is another entrepreneur with connections to White Bear Lake, he and his staff use carbon fiber to construct advanced, aerodynamic bicycle wheels used by professionals at the highest levels of the sport). The internship led to a job (for three years) prior to launching his current business venture.
“I think I picked up a lot of viewpoints from those guys,” Igo said. “Anne and Steve (Hed) are great mentors. I learned about putting quality, attention and care into your product and that if you make a quality product, the athletes will come to you.”
An examination of a cross section of a competitor’s lacrosse stick produced in China revealed inherent weaknesses in the design. Air pockets trapped within the composite material created unseen areas of structural weakness that could break on impact. Igo decided to develop a step in his process to eliminate these design flaws.
From a roll that is kept frozen to lengthen its shelf life, the process starts with sheets of the highest quality carbon fiber available. The fiber is cut into strips and then wrapped by hand around a tube to form the basic structure. The material is lighter and stronger than steel and flex can be built into the stick by manipulating the direction of the fiber. In one of the final steps, the combination of a precision-tooled mold and a pneumatic tube is used to force out the air bubbles by applying 150 psi of pressure from inside the carbon-fiber shaft. The surrounding aluminum form constrains the concave octagonal shape of the shaft, while air bubbles and other imperfections are pushed out in a paper-thin band along the length of the mold.
The resulting stick has a combination of strength and flexibility that makes it ideal for the rigors of lacrosse, a sport that appears (to the casual observer) to be a combination of ice hockey and soccer, requiring the speed of a track runner and the strength of a football or hockey player.
Igo has observed a transition from wood, to metal, to composite lacrosse sticks similar to what has already occurred in hockey. The dominant industry standard for lacrosse sticks is currently aluminum, which can bend or be dented.
“M4 Carbon is introducing the advantage of carbon fiber to the sport of lacrosse. You can take it to the extreme,” he said.
The demand for his sticks is growing along with the popularity of what was once an obscure sport in the Midwest. Within the last decade, lacrosse has grown from a small number of men’s and women’s club teams to a full-fledged Minnesota State High School League sport. In 2012, there were 63 girls programs and 58 boys programs with approximately 6,000 participating players.
Once the spring lacrosse season started this year, Igo discovered the demand for his sticks was much higher than expected. It’s not uncommon for him to work from 8 a.m. until 10 or 11 p.m. just to keep up with the orders.
“The response has been great. From kids who like the performance aspect to parents who like that it’s locally made,” he said. “One of our goals was to make all our products in the U.S. and we’ve stayed true to it. From building the machinery to buying our supplies, it’s all made in the U.S.”
Professional and amateur players alike have tested his products and given them positive reviews. The Redline logo can be spotted on an increasing number of sticks at local lacrosse practices and games. The sticks are designed specifically for attack and defense positions. Teams and players can also get them custom built with school colors. The marketing strategy for now is to keep selling the custom, hand-built products directly to the customer. This summer, to further expand awareness of the sticks, there are plans to visit major lacrosse tournaments nationwide.
“I just like really well made, quality products and I strive every day to make the best possible products,” Igo said.