Upper School Archives

Parents Association Book Festival Goes Virtual

May 11, 2020

Find all of the details you need for the Virtual Parents Association Book Festival here!

A Message From The Parents Association

The MPA Book Festival is a beloved tradition and the Parents Association is looking forward to making it possible virtually!

The annual Book Festival provides our MPA community with opportunities to participate in reading activities, purchase great books, and support our local booksellers. The MPA Library will use the donations from the booksellers to purchase books for teachers, for the classrooms, and the Library. It’s so important in our MPA community to support one another and our extended community. That’s why this year the MPA Library will also donate books to Breakthrough to support their summer literature program. Let’s help spread the joy of reading!

As in years past, you may purchase books from Valley Bookseller and Usborne Books. Since our event is online this year, you have the ability to purchase any books available through their distributors—bonus! You can even purchase a gift certificate for a teacher—double bonus!

If you have any questions, please contact Erin Dimopoulous, Parents Association Book Festival chair, at erin.dimopoulos@gmail.com.

Valley Bookseller Online Ordering Information

Please use this link to Valley Bookseller with information exclusively for MPA.

Valley Bookseller will donate back to us 10% of all sales! Orders must include “MPA” in the notes section when placing the order so they can track those orders for the donation. Books will be shipped via the USPS: Priority Mail costs $7 and arrives in just 2-3 days after books arrive in their store. Media Mail is only $4 and will take 5-7 days.

Usborne Books Online Ordering Information

Please use this link to Usborne Books with information exclusively for MPA.

Usborne Books will donate back to us 50% of all sales! Books will be shipped from the Usborne warehouse. The cost of shipping is $6 up to $75, then 8% of the order after that.

Book Festival Special Events
In addition to the opportunity to shop for and purchase books 24/7, we have something fun scheduled each day of the week for MPA families and students alike …

Monday, May 11
12 PM: Facebook Live with Usborne Books watch >
6:30 PM: Lower School Story Time led by Middle School students (please see Sunday’s email to join via Zoom)

Tuesday, May 12
11:30 AM: Lower School Story Time led by Middle School students (please see Sunday’s email to join via Zoom)
Facebook feature of Valley Bookseller read >

Wednesday, May 13
12 PM: Facebook Live with Breakthrough watch >
6:30 PM: Lower School Story Time led by Middle School students (please see Sunday’s email to join via Zoom)

Thursday, May 14
11:30 AM: Lower School Story Time led by Middle School students (please see Sunday’s email to join via Zoom)
3:30 PM: Carly Ciarrocchi Presentation (please see Sunday’s email to join via Zoom)
Be engaged by Carly Ciarrocchi, a performer, writer/creator, producer and musician. Her mission is to invite audiences of all ages and collaborators of all kinds to play, investigate, and bounce. Her work is grounded in joy, curiosity, and resilience.
6:30 PM: Lower School Story Time led by Middle School students (please see Sunday’s email to join via Zoom)

Friday, May 15
1 PM: Lower School Get Caught Reading Event (please see Sunday’s email to join via Zoom)
Lower School students will gather for a Zoom meeting from 1-1:30 PM. We will put students in breakout rooms to share the book they are reading. Next, students will curl up and read. We ask parents to take a photo of their child reading and submit it to communications@moundsparkacademy.org and we will create a collage.

Wednesday, May 27
7 PM: Virtual Book Club
Upper School students and Panther parents from all divisions are invited to leave your screens for a bit, travel to France as World War II wanes, and meet two of the most courageous and endearing characters in literature. Join us to read the novel “All the Light We cannot See” by Anthony Doerr in the recently launched a book club for all Upper Schoolers and now extended to a parent edition. Get your copy of the book during the Book Festival and join us for lively discussion on May 27. Student discussions will be at 2 PM and parent discussions will be at 7 PM. Join our Schoology group for more information and other reading suggestions. Access code: K7T6-DD2D-5FWJH

Supporting Our Community
MPA’s Library is thrilled to be partnering with local nonprofit Breakthrough Twin Cities for this year’s Book Festival! This partnership will support Breakthrough students by providing books for their summer literature experience. Breakthrough Twin Cities offers a six-year college access program to highly motivated, yet under-resourced students and families in the Twin Cities. With a campus housed at MPA and several MPA Alumni teaching fellows, we are proud to work closely with BTC to help provide books to their students. Learn more at breakthroughtwincities.org.

If you have any questions about this year’s Virtual Book Festival, please contact Erin Dimopoulous, Parents Association Book Festival chair, at erin.dimopoulos@gmail.com.

The Annual MPA Book Festival Goes Virtual: May 11-15, 2020!

May 7, 2020

We are excited to partner with Valley Bookseller and Usborne Books for the annual MPA Book Festival—Virtual 2020! The MPA Book Festival is a beloved tradition sponsored by the MPA Parents Association, and we are looking forward to making it possible virtually. As always, the proceeds from the Book Festival sales (10% of sales from Valley Bookseller and 50% credit of total sales from Usborne Books) support local bookstores, MPA teachers, classrooms and library. New for this year, proceeds will also provide books to Breakthrough Twin Cities to support their summer literature experiences. Breakthrough is the amazing college access program that operates at MPA on Saturdays and throughout the summer, to support highly motivated, yet under-resourced students and families.

Throughout the week of the Book Festival, there will be special events including author readings, Middle and Lower School book pair-ups, Book Festival partner highlights, and more! And although we are disappointed that we cannot hold the Book Festival in person, there is a silver lining. MPA families are not limited to what the sellers bring to the school or what they have on store shelves; any book that is available through their distributor can be part of the Book Festival. Read More

Together We Will Make It To The Finish Line

May 7, 2020

by Dr. Bill Hudson, Head of School

One of the ways I am navigating this challenging crisis has been to start running again. Some of you may know that I took a bad fall while on a run two and a half years ago and broke bones in both my ankle and my foot. It’s been a long road to recovery as I’ve dealt with both physical and mental trauma. For some time, I have been mentally preparing myself to start running again but until recently, I lacked the resolve. Several weeks ago, after a particularly long day, I reached a breaking point. So I ran. I needed to reassure myself that I can overcome anything, that pain does indeed result in gain, that this is hard but I can push myself through it by the strength of my resolve, and that it’s all worth it on the other side.

You have most likely heard me say that we are in marathon, not a sprint. The irony of my fall was that I had just recently achieved a personal milestone, completing the ten-mile run of the Twin Cities Marathon. Never having been a runner before, I slowly worked my way toward that ultimate goal. In a marathon, there are mile markers and in my training runs, there are landmarks to measure progress. A friend reminded me recently that we have no such guideposts at the moment; we are engaged in an endurance event without mile markers, working toward a finish line that may not even be visible. Read More

Innovation & Student-led Learning Enhance Online Science At MPA

May 7, 2020

A spirit of innovation flows through all that we do at Mounds Park Academy; now it’s just through high-speed Internet instead of hallways and classrooms. Innovation fuels creative thinking and allows students to experience the joy of learning—and thanks to John Milam’s seventh- and eighth-grade science courses—the joy of teaching.

At the start of distance learning, Milam and his students brainstormed ideas on how best to approach the coming weeks. The students told him that they wanted to become an expert on a science topic—and then teach it. MPA encourages this level of student engagement in their learning, as demonstrated in the blog article “Letting the Students Lead.”

Still, Milam, who joined the faculty in 2019, was apprehensive. While students often present in class given MPA’s commitment to public speaking, they had never before taught a class.

“At MPA, there is a lot of emphasis on student voice,” says Milam. “But I was initially leery of turning over the class to the students.”

Now, Milam is learning new ideas from his students regarding how to make his own teaching better.

“Students at this age know how to talk to Middle School students – their peers – in a different way than I do as a teacher—they know what they don’t know,” says Milam. “As a teacher, watching them teach, I am learning new ways to use innovative technologies that I might not have considered before, including everything from Quizlet Live, Kahoot, and Mapfling to Brain Pop and Survey Monkey.” Read More

Environmental Club Celebrates Virtual E-Week

May 7, 2020

This week was the MPA Upper School’s Environmental Club’s annual E-Week! E-Club members came up with a fun itinerary for students to get more involved in environmental issues, enjoy the outdoors, and attend other climate centered events.

“Making E-Week virtual this year has been pretty difficult,” shared senior Ella Jones, E-Club president, “We would traditionally hold a ping pong tournament and a game night, but we have adapted by coming up with new ideas which can encourage people to spend time with friends and also get outside in the fresh air.”

They held a Zoom discussion about how to get involved with Climate Strike’s Minnesota chapter, held a Netflix party, carved out time to spend time outdoors, held a letter writing campaign to Minnesota representatives on the importance of climate action, and a photography competition.

Accessing MPA Community Care Funds

May 7, 2020

Thanks to the generosity of our community, MPA would like to support you and your family if you are facing a financial hardship during the COVID-19 pandemic. The MPA Community Care Fund has flexible dollars available to help you if you need it, including financial assistance, technology needs, emergency resources, helping your graduating senior with expenses for college in the fall, among others.

Please fill out this confidential Request for Assistance form or contact Jennifer Rogers-Petitt, director of development and community engagement at jrogers@moundsparkacademy.org.

Buddy Program Volunteers Needed For 2020-2021

May 7, 2020

As a school community, it’s always exciting to welcome new families in all grades and divisions each year. Helping these families have a smooth transition is a top priority and one way we make that happen is through the MPA Buddy Program.

We hope you’ll consider being a Buddy Family next year! Some key expectations of Buddy Families:

Connecting with your assigned family or families over the summer.
Helping the parents and students navigate the back to school process such as Back to School night and the first days.
Connecting with the new family throughout the year to answer their questions, support them at events, and helping to make sure their year of “firsts” at MPA is as smooth as possible.

The Development Office will support you with your Buddy Family, when and if you need! Please share your interest, or let us know if you have questions, by sending an email to agerstner@moundsparkacademy.org.

Give From Home Week

May 6, 2020

As we continue to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, we’re facing the most unprecedented economic challenge of our time. In response, May 1-8 was announced as #GiveFromHome week in Minnesota. This effort will help nonprofit and educational organizations like Mounds Park Academy in very important ways.

Your gift will support the MPA Community Care Fund to ensure every student and staff member has what they need to dream big and do right. Hundreds of MPA community members have already given and we are so thankful for the ways our community has risen to this challenge and supported one another. On behalf of our students and staff, if you’ve already given, we thank you. Let’s meet unprecedented times with unprecedented action to provide our students, families, and faculty and staff with the resources they need.

Senior Service Makes Global Connections

May 6, 2020

The Senior Service Project is an opportunity for MPA students to use their voices and skills, propose, and carry out a service project with an organization or for a cause they are passionate about. All students submit a proposal, complete a minimum of 30 hours of service work, keep a record or journal of experiences, and prepare an exhibit or presentation based on their experience.

For his senior service project, MPA senior Charles Grimes created portraits for The Memory Project. The Memory Project is a nonprofit organization that connects artists with children throughout the world, who then get sent their portraits after completion. His portraits specifically will be sent to children in Venezuela.

“Our participants create these portraits to help children feel valued and important, to know that many people care about their well-being, and to provide a special childhood memory in the future,” states The Memory Project as part of its mission statement.

Give From Home For MPA

May 2, 2020

COVID-19 is our world’s most unprecedented challenge of our time. In response, May 5 was announced as #GivingTuesdayNow, a global day of giving and May 1-8 as #GiveFromHome week in Minnesota. This worldwide effort will help nonprofit and educational organizations like Mounds Park Academy in very important ways.

Your gift will support the MPA Community Care Fund to ensure every student and staff member has what they need to dream big and do right. These flexible funds will allow us to respond to emerging needs, including:

financial assistance for MPA families in need;
technology access for teachers to continue enhancing virtual learning;
employee support funds for wellness and emergency resources;
supporting the MPA Class of 2020 as they prepare for their college expenses in the fall and face the inability to host graduation parties to mark this milestone and gather the necessary supplies for their journey to college; and
the cost of additional supplies to ensure a whole child education can continue, including art supplies, books and e-books, software and hardware, and devices for families without access to adequate technology or wi-fi for virtual learning.