Middle School Archives

August 25, 2022

What position will you be holding at MPA?
School nurse

From what school/organization are you coming?
Before being a stay at home mom, I was a LSN for the Minneapolis Public Schools.

Tell us about your education and past experience.
I received my BSN degree and PHN certification from Metropolitan State University. I have worked as a hospital nurse, a home care nurse and a Clinical Nurse Manager for the HealthEast care system (now Fairview). Finally, I was a LSN for the Minneapolis Public schools before staying at home to care for my children.

What did you find appealing about MPA?
The first time I walked into MPA I was amazed by the nurturing environment and warm atmosphere MPA creates.

What’s your big dream?
My big dream is to live long and stay healthy enough to enjoy grandkids!

What are you (and your family, if you so choose) passionate about?
I have always been the type of person who enjoys helping others, challenging situations and solving problems. Likewise, I have a strong passion for education. This is why I love the role school nursing because I believe that healthy children are better learners.

What’s a fun fact about you that our community would love to know?
A “fun fact” about me is that I am the mother of twins.

Welcome to MPA, Meem Fahlstrom!

August 25, 2022

What position will you be holding at MPA?
Middle School Spanish Teacher

Tell us about your education and past experience.
My favorite job was being a 2-week program facilitator for a Spanish camp, El lago del bosque, Concordia Language Villages. I got my masters in World Language Instruction through Concordia College. I’ve taught at Armstrong High School, Totino-Grace high school, The Churchill School and Center (For Students With Language Based Learning Disabilities), and Wayzata public schools. I’ve led trips to México, Guatemala, Costa Rica, and France. I’ve lived in Chile and Ecuador.

What did you find appealing about MPA?
MPA feels like home. Everyone that works here is here for the students and there is a high degree of innovation. I worked with K-5 students last year and knew it was the place for me.

What’s your big dream?
My big dream is to write a Minneapolis-based dystopian YA novel.

What are you (and your family, if you so choose) passionate about?
I love plants, biking, improv comedy, reading fiction, and writing short stories. My partner and I love Minneapolis and knitting. I grew up surrounded by Croatian elders. I only have one great aunt left who lives in Leetonia (near Hibbing) and I enjoy spending time with her up north. I am passionate about my two nieces (one from each of my brothers).

What’s a fun fact about you that our community would love to know?
I am a licensed Biology teacher, but each year I choose to teach Spanish. Also, I’m trans non-binary and my pronouns are they/them.

Welcome to MPA, Patti Meras!

August 25, 2022

What position will you be holding at MPA?
Middle School Dean

From what school/organization are you coming?
Georgetown Day School

Tell us about your education and past experience.
I have been a middle school English and social studies teacher for the majority of my career, and I hold a BA in English and an MA in Special Education. I began in southern California in 1996 teaching English in public schools. In 2005, my native MN called me back (as anyone who has left MN knows, it has a way of bringing you back). Shortly after returning, I joined MPA. I spent the next 15 years embedded in the joy and delightful quirkiness that is the MPA middle school community before embarking on a new adventure. For the past two years, I was the Middle School English Department Chair at Georgetown Day School in Washington, DC; then I lived abroad in Germany. Once again, I returned to my native MN, and I am so happy to be back in this welcoming community.

What did you find appealing about MPA?
The first day I toured the halls of MPA in 2005, an upper school student looked up from their computer with a genuine smile and greeted by name the 4th grade teacher who was walking with me. I immediately knew this was a special place. MPA is home. It is my village. My colleagues, my students, and the families make this a magical place that celebrates the individual and nurtures creativity, curiosity, and collaboration. I am challenged and supported every day.

What’s your big dream?
I want to participate in the McMurdo Station Antarctic Austral Summer program (If you have not seen A Year on Ice, go watch it).

What are you (and your family, if you so choose) passionate about?
I am passionate about serving others, and I want to instill this passion in those around me. When my children were school-aged, we would spend our summers overseas working at English immersion camps, volunteering in orphanages in Peru, working with youth in Nicaragua, and other such service opportunities. As a member of the MS community, I have loved being a part of many service projects and activities over the years. It is a joy to witness our young people giving of themselves and volunteering their time while expanding their worldview and learning about perspective taking, compassion, and empathy.

What’s a fun fact about you that our community would love to know?
I am a Peanuts fanatic and Snoopy is my favorite. You can usually find me with a Snoopy coffee mug.

Welcome to MPA, Lukas Skrove!

August 22, 2022

What position will you be holding at MPA?
Middle School Band Director

From what school/organization are you coming?
Robbinsdale Area Schools

Tell us about your education and past experience.
I earned my Bachelor’s Degree in Music and Secondary Education Certification at the University of Minnesota Morris. After graduating in 2014 I acquired a multi-building teaching position in the Robbinsdale Area Schools District and the Mount Olivet School of Music. Over the last eight years I have worked both as a music educator and freelance musician in the greater Minneapolis/St.Paul area. Teaching and performing music has been a dream of mine since I was in Middle School. It brings me great joy to share my experiences and stories with students. Read More

Welcome to MPA, Chad DeBruzzi!

August 20, 2022

What position will you be holding at MPA?
Upper School Math Teacher

From what school/organization are you coming?
Anoka Hennepin Public Schools

Tell us about your education and past experience.
Nineteen years of teaching in public and charter schools, as well as higher education. I hold a Masters in education focused on teaching math. I also hold a principal license and an education specialist degree.

What did you find appealing about MPA?
I fell in love with MPA when I saw my children start to flourish for the first time in their school careers. Before MPA they couldn’t tell you what their strengths were. Now, they know their strengths and how to help others with those strengths!

What’s your big dream?
I always wanted to travel the world and meet wise people from different cultures and record their wisdom.

What’s a fun fact about you that our community would love to know?
My family and I love playing board games, video games, jackbox tv: anything that involves playful banter and unpredictability! I am also passionate about Minnesota sports!

Welcome to MPA, Dinah MacPhail!

August 17, 2022

What position will you be holding at MPA?
Fifth and eighth grade social studies teacher

From what school/organization are you coming?
Saint Paul Academy

Tell us about your education and past experience.
I fell into teaching as a summer job in 2008, and then kept coming back to it until I realized how much I loved it. I started at the Carroll School in Lincoln, Massachusetts, and have since taught in Massachusetts and Minnesota, and in almost every grade (except pre-k). Before I became a licensed teacher, I also taught wine tasting classes as a wine sales rep and cheese monger.

What did you find appealing about MPA?
The incredible positivity, the honest and vulnerable reflective practices, and the authentic emphasis on community.

What’s your big dream?
To love what I do, and to do what I love, both without reservation. Read More

Welcome To MPA, Samantha Sanchez!

August 17, 2022

Samantha Sanchez

What position will you be holding at MPA?
Assistant Director of Diversity, Equity, and Belonging

From what school/organization are you coming?
I worked at a very small community college in New Jersey and am completing my Master’s degree at NYU.

Tell us a little bit about your education and past experience.
I received my Bachelor’s degree in Black Studies from the University of California, Santa Barbara and led efforts in higher education reform to increase access and the holistic achievement of minoritized students, which began my professional career in both DEIB and education. After working in K-12 with neurodiverse students and for a private corporation leading community empowerment and equity efforts in urban planning, I decided to pursue my Master’s degree in Sociology of Education at NYU–both so I could fulfill a lifelong dream of living in New York City and to further my research pursuits.

What did you find appealing about MPA during the interview process?
My education philosophy and research foci are centered in the holistic development of students, so it was beautiful to see so many people dedicated to developing the whole student and practicing education models that center student needs. I also found myself in a (virtual) space with people I felt incredibly comfortable with and could sense how fundamental community formation is at MPA.

What’s your big dream?
I have dreams of buying a farm, own lots of animals (we have five dogs now!), and growing a majority of the fruits and vegetables we consume.

What are you (and your family, if you so choose) passionate about?
My family is incredibly passionate about just that–family! We seize every opportunity to be together and spend quality time with one another. These days, that often looks like a group FaceTime where all you can see is all of our foreheads (I have no idea why we all FaceTime that way) and gatherings at our family home. The last big family outing we had was some months ago at Disneyland for my nephew’s first birthday!

What’s a fun fact about you that our community would love to know?
I am originally from California! The rest of my family currently lives in Southern California and my fiancée is originally from the Bay (Northern California), but she and her family moved to Minneapolis some time ago…which is what initially brought me here!

From Host Family To Chosen Family

July 25, 2022

Nastya Vershenya ’01 and Sarah Hanson Salgado ’03 are each other’s chosen family. Their story begins in Sarah’s seventh grade year at MPA, when, as an only child, MPA’s call for families to host an international student was appealing and exciting. Both Sarah’s family and Nastya, coming as an international student to MPA from Minsk, were looking for the same thing, but none of them expected to gain a bonus sister/daughter in the process.

“Twenty some years later, she’s still a part of our family,” Sarah said. “Her [Nastya’s] daughter calls my parents her grandparents, and my parents refer to Nastya as their bonus daughter. We truly did gain a family member from the experience.”

We were able to connect with Sarah and Nastya together to share their heartwarming story as a host family and bonus family member.

How did you meet and become family?

Sarah found what she was searching for in a sister and friend in Nastya. “I’m an only child. When I was preschool age, my parents had done a couple college student homestays at our house. As a three, four, and five-year-old, that was really fun for me! I remembered liking that, and the summer after seventh grade, MPA sent out a newsletter looking for host families. I called my mom at work to say ‘Mom, you have to call MPA right now, and we’re gonna do this!’”

Nastya was drawn to MPA after her family’s experience with Friendship Force. Friendship Force connects families with others, staying with each other as host families for weeks at a time. Her family happened to connect with an MPA family, and they presented an opportunity for the international program to her.

The day Nastya was supposed to arrive in Minnesota, there was a massive airline workers’ strike. She couldn’t get to MSP, and had to reroute to Chicago as the closest available airport. Sarah’s family was so adamant about not delaying Nastya’s arrival, that at three in the morning they made the drive to Chicago to personally pick her up. Read More

What’s Happening To MPA’s Pond?

July 13, 2022

If you’ve been on campus lately, you’ve probably noticed something different about MPA’s pond–and not just the seasonal algae. This summer, the pond is adorned with trucks, cranes, bulldozers, gravel, and boulders. We have an exciting update about all of this action and commotion around our beloved outdoor learning lab.

MPA has a long-standing partnership with the Ramsey-Washington Watershed District. Several times per year, they visit our Upper School biology and environmental science classes for lessons regarding the health, importance, and sustainability of water. Many of these lessons use our campus pond as the source of their research and data collection. This summer, we are ecstatic to be continuing our work with them to embark on improvement project for our campus pond, supported by the Watershed District themselves. One of our amazing alumni, Andrea Wedul ’95, is the architect who designed this renovation for us. With the help of Andrea, the Watershed District, and the vibrant ecosystem of the pond, this initiative will enhance a signature space at MPA to become a more advanced and accessible outdoor classroom.

Currently, the renovation crew is removing a row of parking spaces from the west lot to install filters and extend the growth of native plants in that area. This will help protect our pond from harmful runoff throughout every season. We are still in the early stages, but are loving the progress taking shape right before our eyes! See the action for yourself here!

Host Family Experiences: Ms. Stacy

June 30, 2022

Parent of alumni and fourth grade teacher DeeDee Stacy shares her experience hosting Lyndon Lyu ’20.

How did hosting an international student impact or change your family?
Having an international student in our home enriched our understanding of another culture first hand, and taught us that extending ourselves to those who need a place to live garners many rewards. The laughter, gratitude, and love that our student brought into our home resulted in an ongoing relationship that feels like family.

Do you have a special memorable moment you experienced while hosting your student?
There are countless memories worthy of sharing, because seeing MPA and Minnesota through the eyes of a new comer was delightful. When our student entered our home for the first time, he went into the living room and and twirled around, saying, “Thank you for letting me live here. I just love this house!” At the end of his first year here, when he learned that as a junior he might not have the same Lower School buddy, our student asked if he could write notes to the young student to let him know how much he enjoyed their time together. The connection to the community was obvious in so many ways. Read More