August 7, 2019
Meet Kyra Longfellow, who will be joining MPA as the Middle School assistant!
After college, Ms. Longfellow participated in the international youth organization Up With People. She was part of a cast of 150 students from 23 different countries. She performed community service, lived with 100 host families, and performed a variety show while visiting seven different countries during a tour called World in Motion. In the beginning of her professional career after that, she worked in the financial services industry as a service trainer, business analyst, privacy manager, and tester of advisor tools. We are thrilled that she is bringing her skills and passion for working among children to MPA!
What did you love about MPA right away?
Everyone from MPA who interviewed me seemed excited to be here and jazzed about their daily contributions to the school. Being the parent of a middle schooler myself, I appreciated how MPA recognizes that academics, fine arts, and sports all contribute to building a strong educational foundation. Read More
Meet Cherie Honan, who will be our executive assistant to the head of school. Ms. Honan comes to MPA with more than 20 years of high level executive administrative experience in the legal and banking fields. She has excellent skills in project management, is organized and detailed, and communicates warmly and articulately. In her role at MPA, she will help best serve MPA families, faculty, and staff in a way that is responsive and helpful. She also has an extremely caring and joyful disposition.
It’s time for the third annual Max’s Muffins fundraiser! Every summer, MPA fourth grader Max sells muffins to raise and deliver funds to a local food pantry. Max was first inspired to host these summer muffin sales by Ms. P’s Kowalski’s food shelf project in kindergarten. When he learned that families struggle more in the summer when children aren’t in school with lunch provided to them, he decided he had to do something to help.
Meet Gia Gifford, who will be our new K-4 art teacher. Gia comes to us from Clara Barton Open School, which is a K-8 magnet school in Minneapolis Public Schools. She holds two degrees from the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, including a Bachelor of Arts in studio art and art history and a Master of Education in visual arts K-12. Gia has a deep passion for teaching art to elementary and middle school learners. And along with a variety of teaching experiences in diverse environments, Gia is a silversmith who is active in the Minneapolis arts community.
Meet John Milam, who is joining MPA as the Middle School science and design teacher. Mr. Milam has been a teacher and leader in STEM education for more than 20 years, spanning public and private school teaching, university administration, and program development. Most recently, he served as the Middle School STEM teacher at Hmong College Prep Academy. Mr. Milam is excited to challenge MPA students to bring their science knowledge to real-world problems through design thinking in order to make a difference in our community, both locally and globally.
Meet Summer McCall, who is joining MPA as a social studies teacher. Ms. McCall has a Bachelor of Arts in history and Master of Arts from the University of Minnesota, and has been teaching high school for the past fifteen years across the country and internationally in Louisiana, Arizona, and Korea. After moving back to Minnesota, she worked at Bloomington Kennedy High School until joining the faculty at MPA!
Meet Rich Harris, who is joining MPA as a Physical Education teacher. Mr. Harris graduated from Southwestern College in Kansas in 1996 and has been following his passion of teaching ever since. He taught for two years in Kansas, 10 in Massachusetts, three in Qatar, five in London, and the past three in Saudi Arabia. He has also coached a variety of sports, but always basketball.
Meet Tracey Joyce, who will be our new PreK-12 academic technology integrationist. Tracey comes to us from Visitation School where she has worked in the area of technology for 12 years. Prior to that, she was a classroom teacher for eight years. Ms. Joyce has extensive experience developing curriculum and promoting the intentional use of technology to support student achievement in the PreK-12 classroom. She is an exceptional parent educator and advocate of digital citizenship and security who deeply cherishes whole child education and loves to celebrate the joy of learning!
Mounds Park Academy is happy to announce the expansion of its bus services to the Minneapolis area for the 2019-20 school year!
Meet Hannah Lawson, who has been selected as the new director of orchestras and music teacher. Ms. Lawson will join our community and the Twin Cities after eight years of public and private school teaching in the United States and abroad. Most recently, she has been teaching orchestra and general music in Saudi Arabia! She holds a Bachelor of Music Education from Bowling Green State University and a Master of Music Education from Boston University. We are excited about Hannah’s passion for music, her deep and thorough knowledge of composition and music theory, and her excitement to lead MPA’s orchestras to continued excellence.